Finding Balance

Last night I sat down to start a mate for my "Sock a month" project and realized to my utter dismay that I've lost my beloved sock recipe! You see I took a sock knitting class about four years ago this summer at Loopy Yarns in Chicago and during that class was given THE BEST recipe ever for knitting socks. It listed formulas for every weight of yarn you could imagine and was my go-to every time I knit a pair of plain socks. It was seriously dogeared and stained and falling apart and now it's gone. I get a little choked up every time I think about it. While I was frantically searching for it I did find a number of other things I thought I had lost, my old iPod for one (seriously) and much to my chagrin yet another pair of unfinished socks. However in this case I can kind of see why I didn't finish them. This was definitely a case of the yarn in the skein being much, much prettier than the knitted fabric. Still, they shouldn't go unfinished because at least they can keep my toes warm inside my boots. Problem is, I no longer have my pattern to finished them *sniff, sniff*. So I would greatly appreciate being pointed in the direction of a great basic sock pattern. And this sad little single sock would really appreciate having a mate.

All of this though brought to my attention the sheer number of incomplete projects I've got laying around. As a very lovely lady said to me earlier in the week, It's a blessing and a curse to love to do so many different things. I'm starting to realize that certain things are suffering because of my inability to stay focused on one or even two hobbies or projects. Sigh. What to do? Do any of you have this problem? How do you focus your creativity, or organize your projects so things don't get forgotten? Do I have to sacrifice something or several things to really move forward? I'll be contemplating these questions this weekend as I continue to search for my sock pattern.

On a positive note, the sun is out and I'm determined to be productive this weekend. Thank you so much to those who've stopped by and left wonderfully kind notes. You truly add something special to my day!

My Love for Yarn...

My love for yarn runneth deep. It also threatens to overrun my house. This new poster is my ode to yarn and I hope it puts a smile on your face!

Inspired Mondays

In an effort to make Mondays not so dreadful I've decided to start sharing some of the amazing artwork that inspires me. Today I'm inspired by the lovely Lizzy Stewart and her shop "About Today". Her work is so achingly beautiful it takes my breath away. I love the detail and the tiny spots of color. As soon as this money diet is through I'll be picking up a few of her pieces for myself. I hope you'll hop over to her shop and get inspired too!

The money issue...

I feel a little strange about posting something with no photo and I'm also not sure if this is something that needs to be put out there but here it is... After coming to the realization that it's costing me money to keep the Etsy shop open I've had to increase some prices a little. While I don't ever want to think of the shop as a money making venture I also want to make sure that it's worth my time and not costing my family anything. I love everything that I put up for sale, it's a part of me and I don't want to have to stop making things. I still feel that all of my prices are very reasonable for what you're getting, which is handmade goodies made with lots of love and attention. I completely understand that not everyone will see the value in that and I'm so incredibly thankful to all of you lovely folks that do. Onwardand upward!!

Happy Friday!

Just popping by to wish everyone a great weekend. It's been a wonderful week and I hope next week is just as good. I had FOUR orders this week which is just amazing and it makes me feel so good. Unfortunately that also means that I'm out of print making paper and my Retro Wiener Dog print is out of stock temporarily. I've been frantically calling around to see if anyone local carries the paper I use and no one does. I was hoping to eliminate the need for special ordering paper so I'm researching other papers that I can get locally to see if they'll work. I may end up going with a higher-end paper which would mean a slight price increase in the prints but I think it'll be worth it in the end because the end product will be even better.

The pretty flowers above are for the Boba design contest that Spoonflower is having. (info here) It was definitely a good excuse to do some drawing even if I stayed up way too late last night working on it! I truly wish there were more hours in the day... My brain is overflowing with ideas (which is a good problem) and I feel as though there's just not enough time. Especially when most of my day is spent working at my full-time job. But I'm thankful that I have that job, it allows me to take care of my family and I can't lose sight of that, even when I'd much rather be making things for the shop!

Sorry for the rambling post, I seem to be all over the place today. I hope you'll stop back by on Monday. I'm going to start a new feature where I share with you some of the artists / designers that inspire me.

Spring Fever

Have I mentioned how ready I am for spring? February for me marks the end of deep winter and bitter cold. March brings more hours of sunshine, slightly warmer temps and melting snow. I'm looking forward to March so much that I preemptively made myself a little desktop background to help usher in the sunshine. It's made me very happy to look at the last few days so I thought I would share it with you. It's a bit early but you can never start celebrating warmer months too soon! There's a few different sizes to choose from, so just click on the size you want to download the image.

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Cuteness

We all had a rough weekend. Everyone was very crabby. Well, except maybe baby M, she seemed the happiest of all of us. We've all been fighting colds for weeks and we all have major cabin fever. I don't think I've ever seen a family more ready for Spring. Yesterday I was able to escape for a few hours and went to the thrift store, where the thrifting was soooo good. It definitely lifted my mood and gave me just the little push I needed to be productive. I was so inspired that I whipped up the cute mini dog up there. I listed her in my shop this morning and she was snatched up pretty quickly by a very lovely lady. I love that little doggie so I'll be making more! And just to share some cuteness with you on this cold Monday, there's a photo of the unsinkable Miss B modeling some vintage glasses. I could just eat her up. (Her bangs really aren't that crooked, I promise!)