The Universe rescues my Monday

I was having one of those days. You know, the icky kind. The kind that could only be a Monday. Nothing in particular was wrong, but I was just crabby and would have preferred to stay in bed all day.

The universe knew this, and decided that it likes me (for now). After recording my podcast, I checked the mail and found this:

That is 3 packages (2 containing letters!) and a card (the kind with a letter in it!)!!!!!!! The letter and square package came from some pen pals from rav, the medium package is from my Pooks, and the large package is some stuff I bought from a destash.

Are you super excited to see what lived in the packages? OF COURSE YOU ARE!

Package 1: 

This came from my sister, and it was full of things to mend. I knew there was going to be carnage, so I opened this package first. You see, I made a friend a pair of socks at the beginning of the month, but I must not have woven in my ends very well on one of them, because there is a small hole where I changed yarn. Easy fix. Probably less than 10 minutes.

A less easy fix: I knit socks for my niece. My sister's dog chewed the backs of the legs off both socks. Luckily neither heel is damaged, so I don't have to deal with short rows, but... I have to amputate the legs and knit new ones. Still faster than knitting new socks.

Package 2:

For the in-between times for Nerd Wars, Team 1-Up decided to send letters (or things that would fit in an envelope). My partner went above and beyond. She sent me a letter, and:

Why yes, those are mushrooms. She made me a magnet and a key chain. If you love them, you can head over to her etsy shop. The thing that made me squee the most though was the Howl's Moving Castle keychain. I am waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in love with it!

Package 3:

One of my 1-Up teammates is battling a wicked infection, and the medical bills are piling up. She decided to destash some of her yarn/fiber to help with costs. I had a little bit of yarn money, so I scooped up 3 things:

I've never worked with the yarn on the left, or the fiber on the right. I figured it would be okay to try new things. The fiber in the middle is from one of my favorite indie dyers, ScienceMonkey. (P.S. if you love the socks I made for my friend that I now need to fix, ScienceMonkey just put up 2 skeins of the pink yarn in his shop. Go scoop it up!)

Saturday 7 - Week 14

Hey guys! I made it back for another week. Yay! (I am pretty proud of myself.) This week is easy. Technically, these are still in my house, but only because I won't see the person I am giving them to until tomorrow. One of the ladies in my knitting group has a sister who is taking up weaving, but does not have a lot of dollars. That is okay, though. I, like many crafters, have stuff in my stash that I am not interested in. Stuff that was given to me by other people that I took because, "Sure, I can find a use for that." 

First thing, I pulled a bag of yarn out from under my bed. Actually, it was a big bag, a small bag, and a couple loose skeins. Now it all fits in one bag. This bag is my "random yarn" bag. You see, I have 4 different yarn stashes. Sock yarn, worsted weight acrylic, "special" yarn (handspun, lace, etc.), and random. I pulled out all the yarn that I wasn't particularly fond of - I don't see myself using peach yarn EVER. The cream is an interesting texture, but only one ball. The white has gold metalic - I am not a fan of gold. The other four yarns were just in small quantities, so they got pulled out. (9 things)

Then I pulled out a box of yarn my mom gave me when I visited Michigan earlier this month. (By the way, I did that. It was a five day trip, and very fun.) The seven yarns on the right came from that box. They are being given away because they are either small quantities of textured yarn that don't go with anything else in my stash, or they are yellow.  Then I looked at my worsted acrylic stash, and found some non-fitters. They all got removed, because I couldn't think of a project I would use them for. (13 things)

After I bagged all that up, I realized a bag of yarn had fallen from my stash (on top of a book shelf) onto the floor. In it was more peach yarn (/die) and a chunky black yarn that didn't go with anything else in my stash. I have frogged the peach thing, and added more yarn to the bag. (3 things)

I hope the woman who is learning to weave has fun using these yarns. Maybe she likes peach and yellow...

This week: 25 things
Total:  178 things

Blanket Project: Week 20

I am waaaay behind where I should be on this blanket. I hit a bit of a block during the holidays, but now I have my blanket mojo back. I have done one square a day for the last 3 days. I was having problems because my yarn options aren't very colorful right now, but I am trying to get over it. 

72/776, instead of 140

101 in 1001

A podcaster I just started listening to had a really cool blog post once upon a time. She listed 101 things she wanted to accomplish in 1001 days. I think this is an awesome idea, so I'm going to try it. Below will be my list. When you read it, you will probably say, "Uh... that is not 101 things." That is a correct observation. I am having a difficult time coming up with all 101 things, and would love any suggestions you might have. I will update the list as appropriate.

101 Things in 1001 days
Start date: 24 January, 2013       End date: 22 October, 2015

1. Complete 50 pairs of socks
2. Publish 5 patterns
3. Make 10 pairs of socks for me
4. Make 3 sweaters
5. Finish  lion brand homespun lapghan
6. Finish sock yarn blanket
7. Finish MSYB
8. Finish all the repurposed arm warmers
9. Finish Steve's quilt
10. Finish 4 rag rugs
11. Spin all the fiber from Carrie
12. Fit into my size 5 jeans
13. Type [x] story
14. Attempt to get published
15. Clean the storage room
16. Document 52 weeks of decluttering
17. Learn to dye
18. Spin enough of one yarn to make a sweater
19. Make ^that sweater.
20. Record and post 100 podcasts
21. Pare down books
22. Completely clean desk area
23. Finish watching Supernatural
24. Read WoT series
25. Make soap
26. Knit 10 Cookie A patterns (Kai-Mei socks count; kids' socks don't)
27. Spin yarn for socks
28. Knit ^those socks
29. Attend a fiber/yarn convention
30. Do yoga 3x a week for 3 months
31. Read LotR (audio books okay)
32. Make an entrelac project
33. Knit something with beads
34. Do a colorwork knitting project
35. Attempt a sweet tomato heel
36. Read all the Game of Thrones books
37. Read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books
38. Visit Rachel
39. Make bagels from scratch
40. Finish the blue journal and the black journal
41. Write up the Peter Pan story
42. Learn Tunisian crochet
43. Make something with a Latvian braid
44. Make baby blankets with the yarn that has been set aside
45. Make Becka's corset
46. Read all of Grimm's  fairytales
47. Finish writing the sequel to [x]'s story
48 - 101: TBD

Saturday 7 - Week 13

Dear Readers-

I have been thinking about you a lot. I miss you. It is not that I haven't had things to say, because I have. I just haven't had the willingness to write. I am sorry.

AS you can see from the title, I am counting this as week 13 of the Saturday 7 project. It is not that I have not been getting rid of things every week; I have. I just haven't recorded them. So, I will recount the things that I specifically remember for the past two months, but I plan to keep this up until I hit a recorded Week 52.

I gave Becka and her boyfriend a coffee pot. I got it for Christmas a few years ago - I specifically asked for it. But I don't drink coffee, and it is less of a hassle to heat water in the microwave when I want tea. So mostly it has sat unused. The boyfriend is attempting to quit soda but still wants caffeine, and he likes coffee. They were going to buy a coffee pot, so I passed mine on. (1 thing)

On my Michigan trip, I got rid of a lot. I gave my sister a scarf that had been sitting around my place forever, and a VHS that we got at a Christmas exchange that would have otherwise been relegated to the back of a closet, because we don't have a VHS player. (2 things) I gave Becka's sister a box of maternity clothes, a box of Winnie the Pooh nursery decorations, a Winnie the Pooh play table thing, two boxes of bottles/cups for babies, and four (at least) boxes of baby clothes, size 0-18 months. (9 things)

I dropped 3 more scarves in the charity drum at the library (3 things)

That is all I can remember. I plan to get back to my normal writing schedule, though, so there will be more next week. 

This week: 15 things
Total:  153 things