over-haul

I am over 2009. it was great in it's own way, but that was a rough year overall and I'm moving on. I'm also hauling out the old and encumbering . . . in case you wondered what the title was all about.

it's nice to wake up early in the new year (not in the morning per se, but in the calendar sense) and realize that you've honestly actually gotten over some pretty significant things. things like ex boyfriends or how you react when you see people you went to high school with or just a lot of old junk. you look at pictures someone took the night before and realize that the smile on your face wasn't faked or forced this time. it just feels good.

I'm working on a big trim-down of stuff. actually physical possessions for the most part. accumulation that I don't need. not an easy thing to do when you're an artist or craftsperson, but it's coming along. I sat down and took a good look a where I was spending the most time creatively, what I wanted to actually be spending more time on creatively as well, and have started trimming down the rest. knitting used to be a hobby, but now I seem to be making some money at it as a designer and instructor so it's getting the limelight. music I can't imagine not having as a part of my life, so it's getting more focus than it had been getting.

I've also been changing my eating habits. omnivore is the best term if you want to stick a label somewhere, but as I do more research and try things out on myself I'm finding that "organic" is the way I'm wanting to go. and don't get me wrong - I love a good steak, but I'd rather my steak have come from a healthy cow who got to eat what it was supposed to eat - things like grass. interesting tidbit - those bacteria problems could be cleared up if the cows got to go feed out in a pasture for a week or so. eating, you know, grass. just a thought. think about it though (and I have no hard evidence on this exactly, just my own logic) the hormones and various other chemicals that are produced by the body when you are sad, or sick, or just unwell are in your whole body, right? why take in that from something else? and sure, it costs a little more up front, but I find I get full a whole lot faster when I'm eating whole or "organic" foods. meaning I eat much less, and feel better. that works out for me. oh and tastes really good.

so that's some of what I've got going. for now though the pup needs some attention and I have some dinner to decide on.

happy 2010!

still haven't found it

ok, so I've been looking for a stitch and/or scarf pattern that I like to make a somewhat lacy scarf out of some Misti Alpaca yarn that I have. "a scarf?" you say? yes, a scarf. I figured out last winter that in all my knitting for other people (it was gifts at the time), I have somehow wound up with no scarves for myself. the knitter and teacher of knitting. oops. so anyway I've started a couple of things but none of them have clicked. that's the thing too - if you do it for long enough you get a feel for what's working and what's not. these aren't. maybe I just need to bump up a couple of needle sizes and do something super-open. it's alpaca - it's going to be warm regardless of what I do. oh and there are also five skeins of cashmere waiting to be knit up. and Christmas knitting . . .

the search continues . . .

this is how it's done . . . .

so how does one go from well over the 200 lb mark all the way down to "these new 14s are getting really loose"? I got a dog. not a little purse pooch who gets tired after a lap around the block mind you. oh no - I got a lab "mix" (mix as in I have no idea what the rest is, but it is by no means on the small side). his name is Jasper and he weighed in at just over 50lbs at the beginning of July when he was about 7 months old. Jasper and I get up pretty much every morning before 6am (or just after 5 like this morning - thanks, inkspot) and go do laps around the half mile loop that is my street. it's awesome. I am still slightly amazed that this natural night-owl is getting up before the sun even comes up, but if I didn't then my dog would be driving me insane. insane isn't such a good look, so I'll pass on that. come cooler weather the morning walks might shorten drastically and be replaced by afternoon/evening walks, but lately it's been too ridiculously hot for walks when the sun is out.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

too. busy. to. blog.

will explain later.

it's not even two hours into 2009 and I'm awake knitting and planning knitting projects. I guess this is what bodes for the rest of the year.

back to basics gloves

I've been working on writing this new pattern for a while now, and it's almost ready to be published. still debating whether to publish as a free pattern or not, but it's been test knitted like crazy lately. so we'll see. here's a pic from one of the finished gloves:


the background is a shot of my backyard. which looks like Revendell right now.