Stacyverb

Focus

Nope, there hasn't been much blog action lately.  I've been busy with a lot of things, and had to make the choice between writing about them or actually doing them.  I went with doing them.

I've been trying to get better about prioritizing, trying not to spread myself so thin.  Instead of putting a little bit of energy into a lot of things, I'm trying to put of lot of concentrated energy toward a few projects at a time.  It's not easy for me!  I have a lot of interests, and am easily distracted!  But while I love to multi-task, sometimes I need to face the fact that focusing on one thing (well, maybe two or three) at a time is better.  It creates less frenzy, and I can enjoy the feeling of actually finishing stuff.

Case in point: a couple of gifts I made for important events this month.  This is a little sweater I knit as a baby shower gift for my friend Melissa.

The yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed from my stash, and this is the pattern. 

Then I knit these socks as a present for my grandmother's 90th birthday:

The color was pretty much unphotographable and the stitch pattern wasn't showing up at all until I fiddled around A LOT with the exposure.  But trust that these are a nice basic brown color called Coffee Bean, in Elann Sock It To Me yarn (also from stash!).  The pattern is called open twisted ribbing--pretty simple, but enough to add interest to an otherwise plain pair of socks.

These gifts have been gifted, and I'm pleased to report they were well received by the giftees. :)

Junk, be gone!

Before...

 

During...

 

After!!!

 

This weekend Anthony and I lugged three carloads of our old junk quality merchandise over to a friend's house, and we all had a yard sale.  This event has been in the works for a while, and we've been navigating piles and boxes of stuff for weeks.  It was starting to get realllly old.

Totally worth the hassle, though.  Anthony and I made almost $300, cleared out soooo much stuff from our house, and donated a lot of what didn't sell to a worthy cause.  Win-win-win!

UFO sightings

Recently, while digging around in the closet to select some yarn for my Summer Games Challenge project, I found myself face to face with several lonely UFOs.

For anyone not up on your artsy-craftsy lingo, that stands for UnFinished Objects.  UFOs are not to be confused with WIPs (Works In Progress).  WIPS are projects that are actively being worked on, actually progressing.  UFOs...well, they're languishing in a state of abandonment, confusion, disinterest, and/or rage.

 

Exhibit A: Autumn Rose

Date started: December 2009

Status: About 20% completed, then shoved into a cardboard box because of two problems I didn't know how to deal with.   1) The corrugated ribbing at the bottom is not supposed to roll.  And yet it does.  I don't know why, and I haven't figured out how to fix it. 2) I'm at the point where I need to calculate where the armholes (actually steeks-- eek!) will go, but since the length is all wonky due to the rolling bottom edge, I can't tell how long this thing really is so far.  Is it time to make armholes yet?  It's anyone's guess!

 

Exhibit B: Viper Pilot socks

Date started: August 2010

Status: I got about halfway through the first sock, then realized it was way too tight.  Traumatized by how much pointless work I'd done on this--one of the most complicated things I've ever knit--I stuffed the project into a bag until I could face unraveling it so I could start over.

 

Exhibit C: Handspun sweater

Date started: 2008??

Status: Oh, who the hell knows?  I haven't been able to go to a PHG meeting in almost two years, and that was where I used to get most of my spinning done.  I probably have about half the yarn spun.  Well, maybe.  Since I don't actually know what pattern I'm using, I don't know how much yardage I need.  Also, I don't know how much yardage I currently have.  Wow, this sounds like a totally half-assed project, doesn't it?

 

Exhibit D: The Project That Cannot Be Named

Date started: Sometime in 2007

Status: No photo available, due to this project being top secret.  It was supposed to be a Christmas (2007) present for someone who reads this blog, and then I realized that I was delusional and there was no way I could finish it in time for Christmas (2007), so I lost my motivation, not to mention my mojo. So this poor thing has been in the closet for years, with more and more stuff getting piled on top of it.

 

Now, these are only the UFOs that were in the closet.  My sewing stuff is in another room, and believe me, that's a whollllle other can of worms. 

I know, a lot of people have waaaaay more UFOs than this.  But I really hate having these things lying around, taking up space, reminding me of the time, effort, and money I've already put into them, with nothing to show for it.  It's not just physical clutter, it's mental clutter, too.  Argh!

Okay, folks, you all are my witnesses: BY THE END OF 2012, I VOW TO FINISH TWO OF THESE PROJECTS.  Two--that's totally do-able, right?  Feel free (please!) to nag me about this periodically.

How about you?  Any UFOs you'd like to finish once and for all, artsy-craftsy or otherwise?

Quality vs. quantity

Last weekend, I boxed up a bunch of clothes to drop off at the thrift store.  Among them were quite a few me-made garments.  In the past, I've been reluctant to get rid of handmade items.  But my standards seem to have gotten higher, and now I just want these things gone.

 

Here’s a me-made blouse I've been wearing since 2005 or so, despite several problems that I kept rationalizing.  Such as: I sewed the cuffs on backward (oops).  There’s a little stain in front (I can just wear a sweater over it).  It doesn’t actually fit right (oh that).  This was one of the first "tailored" garments I made for myself, and I was quite proud at the time (backward cuffs notwithstanding).  But let's be honest: it's poorly tailored.  The whole body is too wide, and the shoulder seams hang way below my actual shoulders.  In the years since I made this blouse, I’ve figured out how to deal with my very narrow shoulders when I'm sewing.  So now I’ve finally reached a point where I look at this garment and go, NO.  It has too many problems.  I no longer feel cute in it, just sloppy.

 

Speaking of sloppiness, here are three skirts I've been wearing with safety pins taking in the waistbands, because they're all way too big (the downside of regular exercise).  Yet I continued to wear them.  The orange one in the middle is me-made, and I’ll need to replace that soon, because my summer wardrobe depends heavily on having an orange skirt in the mix.

The other two came from thrift stores anyway, so why cling to them?  I almost got rid of the black one during a previous closet purge, but I thought, "No, you need a black skirt!"  As if another black skirt (that actually fit) would be so hard to come by! 

The white flowered one I shouldn't have bought in the first place.  It was too big when I bought it, but I was blinded by its beauty.  And it was $3.29.  I figured that judicious use of safety pins would make it work.  Ditto a pair of me-made black pants (not even worth photographing).  I've kept “making do” with all these too-big garments that wanted to slide right off my body because I figured, hey, I'm sitting down anyway, so there's nowhere for them to go.  Ugh!  I’m now realizing just how many of my garments are wearable only because my wheelchair holds them onto my body.

Anyway.  I'm tired of making do, and no longer interested in keeping clothes that are almost fine.  And honestly, although my sewing skills have vastly improved over the years, I'm clueless about alterations.  So these things are going bye-bye, to make room in my closet for new things that fit and are flattering.

Do you hang on to clothes unnecessarily?  If you make your own garments, do you find it harder to get rid of those, even when you know they're not working?

The good things

Stupid cancer.  It came back to our sweet Little Kitty again.  She had surgery today to remove two small lumps from her breast tissue and is now, as they say, "resting comfortably" at home.  The cancer could come back, or not.  (Let's go with not.)

In the meantime, Little has no idea there was ever anything wrong with her, and we'd like to keep it that way.  Except for finding that bumpy place (we check her regularly, since we knew it was likely to recur), we wouldn't have known either.  Little is a content, playful, affectionate cat with a good appetite.  She loves looking out the window (aka "watching cat TV"), getting brushed, and chasing the laser pointer--when she's not napping in a sunbeam or on her favorite fleecy couch blanket, that is.  Simple pleasures.

 

A typical post-breakfast nap

We, too, take simple pleasure in having Little as part of our family--enjoying the feel of her soft fur, the sounds of her happy purr and sassy meow, the hilarious way she frantically chases the red laser dot.  Sharing your life with a pet is a privilege, and one that I don't want to take for granted.

I keep thinking about a passage in Ann Patchett's novel Bel Canto, which I read recently. 

"Carmen prayed hard....What she prayed for was nothing.  She prayed that God would look on them and see the beauty of their existence and leave them alone."

That pretty well sums up my attitude toward life in the past couple of years.  I no longer bother to wish for great things; I just wish for nothing to mess up the good things I already have.  And sometimes, I just wish that not too many terrible things will happen all at once, and that's all I can hope for.

Have I lowered my expectations, or just developed a deeper appreciation for life's small joys?  I'm not sure.  Either way, this evening Anthony and I are reveling in the joy of having our beloved kitty home, purring on her blanket as she recovers.

Poppy cardigan and downsized bag

This was a project I started back in May.  I knit the five pieces in about two weeks, and then they sat in my closet all summer because I hate seaming sweaters.  During a flurry of finishing in September, I eventually stitched it together.  And yesterday the weather finally cooperated so the sweater could make its debut!  The pattern was originally called Marigold, but I call mine Poppy because of the color.

I'd also like to point out the shoulder bag I'm sporting here.  This was a recent fabulous find at a thrift store, which set me back only $2.50.  Woot!  The red and black combo goes with most of my wardrobe.  It's much smaller than the bag I carried all summer (seen here), which is great.  Having a smaller bag prevents a ton of extraneous crap from accumulating.

CARDIGAN DETAILS

Pattern: Marigold Sweater, designed by Amy Polcyn, from Summer 2010 issue of Interweave Knits

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima color 3751 (4 skeins), purchased at Sheepish

Needles: Size US 5 (3.75 mm)

Stash, part 2: yarn

Editing my fabric stash was so satisfying, I decided to tackle my yarn stash, too.  Here's what I was dealing with: large Rubbermaid bin, kitty litter container, and wooden magazine rack-converted-to-yarn-bin.  All stuffed very full of yarns and some spinning fiber.

Again, I'm sure many knitters out there are thinking that this stash looks meager.  Everything's relative.  (Also, I remind you that yarn is squishy, and a person can cram a lot of it into a space if they put their mind to it.)  For me, the stash was getting out of hand, mostly because I was stumbling over the kitty litter container every time I ventured into the closet.  What's in that container, anyway?

Well, in theory, my whole sock yarn stash.  But once I went through the big brown Rubbermaid container and the other wooden bin-that-used-to-be-a-magazine-rack, here's what I discovered:

Right.  All this other sock yarn that had been hiding in other bins.  I'm not the first knitter to note that sock yarn seems to accumulate faster than other kinds of yarn.  A lot of us buy it on our travels or whatever, somehow kidding ourselves into thinking that picking up "one souvenir skein" doesn't count toward stash.  Also, five of those skeins were gifts.  I'm not trying to rationalize, I'm just saying.

After spending some quality time with all this stuff, I was able to cull a bunch of oddball and what-was-I-thinking skeins to donate.  Eventually, I managed to smoosh all of the sock yarn into the kitty litter container, which I then fit inside the large Rubbermaid thingie.  Everything in there is now good, useful stash.  The magazine rack now contains only yarn for which I have immediate plans with projects in mind, for easy access.

So.  I've freed up floor space previously taken up by the kitty litter bin.  I've donated yarn to people who will enjoy it.  And I've been reminded of what I have so I can figure out how best to use it.  All in all, very productive!

That's (not necessarily) entertainment

Judging from the comments people have left here and/or have made to me in person about Tuesday's post, I'm not the only one who sometimes reaches that point where the things we do for fun end up feeling like chores.  And apparently quite a few of us are delusional optimistic about how much time actually exists, especially hobby/recreation/fun time.

Let's talk about this!

There are lots of ways I like to relax, but when I try to cram all of them into a weekend, I can't manage it (duh! see above point re: actual available time) and then feel stressed out.  Which basically sabotages the whole relaxing angle, obviously.  My current goals are about having more calmness in my life, remember?  Freaking out about getting "behind" on pastimes is ABSOLUTELY DUMB.

Knowing all this, recently I have:

• vowed not to start any major new sewing or knitting projects like tailored dresses or intricately cabled socks.  I'll start only simple, quick-gratification projects, and work on finishing the complicated long-term projects already in progress.
• declined several offers from friends who wanted to loan me books they thought I'd like, because I know I won't get to them right away.  (On a similar note, I'm checking out one library book at a time instead of a whole stack.)
• realized I only want to keep up with maybe two TV shows at a time.  Following anything more than that means either planning my downtime around TV (no thanks) or getting behind on episodes and trying to squeeze in time to catch up, which ends up feeling like a chore.
• cut back the Netflix plan to one DVD at a time.  When we had the two-at-a-time, we'd end up with a backlog and those little red envelopes would start taunting us (again, the pressure/ chore/obligation feeling).  Bonus: we save five bucks a month.

How about you?  How could you better manage your downtime?  Could doing fewer "relaxing" things actually help you feel more relaxed?

Letting things go

In Friday's post I mentioned that while re-organizing my fabric stash, I unearthed a project from several years ago that I realized was never going to get finished, and I got rid of it. 

Letting go of that project made me feel a bit lighter, a little less bogged down.  It's a good feeling, but one that doesn't necessarily come easy.  I've always prided myself on NOT being a person who is all talk and no action.  So if I decide I'm going to do something, I like to follow through and do it.  But sometimes...you just have to let things go.

Recently I followed a link to this article, which really puts that feeling into words.  My favorite part is this:

"Knowing when to kill a project is an important skill to have if you are interested in simplifying your life. It’s unreasonable to expect every single project you start or get involved in to be perfect. Sometimes it takes awhile to realize that it isn’t what you imagined, your goals have changed, or the passion just isn’t there."

I'd even go a step farther and say it's unreasonable to expect every single project you start or get involved with to get finished at all (never mind "perfection").  As I'm focusing on prioritizing where to put my time and attention right now, it's important to face the fact that I don't need to act on every single idea I have.  Trying to do so just leads to feeling overwhelmed, and having a bunch of half-assed, half-finished projects lying around.  UGH!  Much better to focus on the things that are really enjoyable.  Otherwise, the things we supposedly do for fun can start to feel like chores or obligations.  What fun is that?

Stash: delusions and containment

To an artsy or craftsy person, a stash is as a pantry is to cooks--a storehouse of raw materials out of which you produce your creations.  Personally, I have a sewing stash, a beading stash and a knitting stash.  Last weekend, in my efforts to de-clutter and streamline my life, I tackled the sewing stash.

Apparently, I'd been deluding myself about the size of my fabric stash.  I have this wooden chest that, in my mind, was where my fabric stash lived.  And that was kind of true--the chest was, in fact, full of fabric.  But there were also random cuts of fabric in other places--a shopping bag in the closet, a FedEx box on a shelf, etc.  These pieces had somehow ended up in a holding pattern, like a pre-stash staging area.  Some still had prices or labels pinned to them, and thus hadn't been washed or pre-shrunk and thus weren't technically ready to use and thus hadn't yet moved into the stash chest and thus didn't count as stash...yes, this does sound like a massive loophole and yes, I told you I'd been deluding myself.

So, step one was to wash/dry/pre-shrink all of this vagrant fabric--eight cuts in all, totalling somewhere between 11 and 16 yards, enough for at least five garments.  That's a lot of stash to have been floating in limbo. 

With all of this former pre-stash ready to join the rest of its brethren in the chest, I had to face the next problem: if I really wanted all of my stash to live in that chest, some would have to go.  I discovered five sewing projects that had been stalled or abandoned. Taking a hard look at these, I determined that four of the five could be saved.  The other one I realized I no longer cared about and didn't feel sad about officially surrendering.  From elsewhere in the chest, I put together a bag of remnants to give to a friend who quilts, along with some yardage I'd had literally for ten years without ever figuring out a plan for it, as well as some what-was-I-thinking pieces.

Now I can honestly say that this filled-to-the-top wooden chest contains my entire fabric stash.  Some of you with a hardcore sewing habit are surely looking at this and thinking what a puny stash this is compared to your stash closet/stash room/stash wing of your house, but that's okay.  I now know what all I have and where it all is, and I like all of it.  Plus, there's now empty closet and shelf space formerly occupied by pre-stash fabric.  Perhaps most importantly: fabric is squishy!  I've managed to cram a LOT of fabric into this chest.  If I didn't buy any more for several years, there would be plenty here to keep me busy.  Of course, I'm sure I will buy more fabric.  But THERE WILL BE NO MORE PRE-STASH STAGING AREA: I'll be trying very hard not to obtain more stash until some of what's in the chest has been sewn up to make room for new stash.  If I make this vow in front of you all here, maybe I'll actually keep it. :)