Goals Post – Forward to 2010!

Perhaps this post should be titled “Living in Dreamland.” 😉 It’s unquestionably the most ambitious list of goals I’ve ever set out at the beginning of the year, and I’ve not ever completed my shorter lists, but my philosophy of goals remains that having a higher target means I hit more, even if I don’t complete them all. The most important factor for me is to remain realistic in that I remember it IS an overly ambitious list, and that anything I do accomplish is a victory; it’s not a defeat to not do all of it. These are goals to help me stay on track, not requirements that identify whether I’m a worthwhile person!

That said, here are my goals for 2010:

My online miniatures group is doing a goals based project, and we were asked to spell out five mini goals, so I will start with those:

1. Finish the interior and/or exterior of Friendship Cabin, a Real Good Toys Adirondack Cabin that we started several years ago, but which has languished untouched since sometime before the beginning of 2009. Here’s the album where I chronicled our first days working on the project.
2. Finish my Gail Wilson Hitty, which was started with enthusiasm during the online class, worked on for three nights, and now has the rest of the girls giving me “the look” for not getting their sister done. I have a little glitch in the painting, and since this is a challenging project for me anyway, the moment I encountered a problem, I put her away for a time when I could really feel relaxed. ‘Nuff said? :S
3. Finish my Teresa Layman Cottage By the Sea project – actually barely started, and a massive project for someone who really doesn’t like embroidery or French knots. This will be a rug for Friendship Cabin.
4. Finish my Boat Sampler – stitched on silk gauze – lots to go on it, but most of the hardest part is completed. Like the Layman project, I started this on our last cruise. Unlike the Layman project, I loved working on this one, so I did quite a bit more of it. Also belongs in Friendship Cabin, and perhaps will be finished on another cruise…
5. Knit something tiny – size 4/0 needles or smaller – probably something for my future miniature yarn shop

Fiber Goals:

1. See #5 in the miniatures
2. Publish at least 4 knitting patterns – should actually be more than this, as I have 3 projects that just need the paperwork part of this goal in order to be ready. The paperwork is the hard part of course… I’m knitting my next shawl design right now, and I’ve promised another KAL for the spring, so I’m going to be busy with this!
3. Finish my spinning wheel – I can’t believe this sat untouched for an entire year. Where on earth did the time go??? The staining is about half done, but it’s an involved project. Once that’s done, I need to finish and assemble it.
4. Learn to use said wheel
5. Knit a project from wool I’ve cleaned and spun, using a pattern I’ve designed – I have a bit of a jumpstart on this, as I’ve cleaned a goodly pile and picked some of it already.
6. Stash all my yarn on Ravelry – yes, maybe I’ll get it completed this year… – Starting with 550
7. Get competent purling continental. I think I need to have a dedicated project for this… maybe a washcloth. 🙂
8. Make another 2 pairs of socks for myself (maybe I’ll get the next done before I wear holes in what I have?) This was one pair until a friend twisted my arm and said I should try for two – and one pair has to be top down, to boot! Bad thing here is that I also promised a pair to my daughter, so this means three pair this year, when I’ve never done more than one. Gulp!
9. Finish at least 3 of the projects currently languishing in my WIP/UFO tubs – items started before July 1, 2009. This one will also be a challenge. I love the stuff in my UFO tub, even though it’s all pretty good at inducing guilt. I’ve found that designing really slows down the knitting, though, especially on other people’s patterns!

Other Creative Goals:

1. Finish at least one of the remodeling projects… sigh… Acceptable candidates are the kitchen (which is in the impossible dream category), painting the door to my future studio (easy), or finishing the nook, laundry room, or my sewing room. Nook and laundry room both depend on hubby – most especially the nook – though I have a load of work to do in those two areas, too.
2. Organize my computer photos, then print and label as I think necessary. I’m rereading this and laughing at the thought of actually getting it done, but…
3. Spend at least a few minutes every week making music – LOVE doing this, but I’ve really ignored this part of my life for the last few years. Looking for a flute – like I need more instruments around here?
4. Learn my new camera – for starters, needing to know why I can’t take a decent close up with a camera that cost this much!
5. Make up a Gail Wilson kit – see mini goal #2
6. Finish Reba – poor thing! Her sisters were finished in 2006 (pix in this album) but my teacher suddenly stopped classes with Reba just one firing away from being done. Every attempt I’ve made to get her fired since then has ended in failure. Need to get a kiln up and going here so I don’t have to depend on anyone else.
7. Make a pair of socks on my CSM – This could be anything from amazingly easy to a terrible headache, based on things I’ve heard. First task is getting the new needles and such that I need.
8. Probably crazy, but I joined a Navajo style weaving Yahoo group, and now I have the bug to weave something, even if it’s small. I’m torn between tri-loom and Navajo style, but would adore trying both. One item is enough to qualify.
9. Move one of my dolls from hospital patient status to display status – maybe Aaron, so he can show off his adorable knitted romper? He is on this page.

Personal Goals – and these tend to have a very familiar ring to them:

1. End the year 25 pounds lighter than I started it. Why is this so hard?!
2. Read 100 books
3. End the year debt free – both money and promises made
4. Go somewhere new – state or country. I have a life goal of visiting all 50 states and all 7 continents, and I need to keep at it if I’m going to succeed!
5. Clean out one of my email accounts – frighteningly big project, but I’ve made a lot of progress already in the first two days of the year. It’s amazing how quickly this can fall behind again, though.
6. I have a challenge with a friend to blog at least once each week
7. Solidly memorize the scripture verses on my calendar
8. Get the treadmill inside – Sounds like no big deal, but it’s going to need cleaned up, and the area where it belongs is packed solid with things that don’t belong where they are – which aren’t where they belong because their spots are filled with stuff that doesn’t belong where it is, which… well… you get the idea!

Goals Post – A Recap of 2009

What happened to 2009???!!! I remember it seems like just a few weeks ago that I posted my goals for the year, intending to blog monthly updates on my progress. When I found myself halfway through February having not done so, I decided that quarterly probably made more sense. By mid-May, I realized that semi-annually was clearly a more reasonable idea, and by September, I realized the end of the year was so close that it probably didn’t matter if I did an interim post. 😉

Most of the year I thought I was doing a terrible job on completing my goals, but looking at them now, I realize that although I didn’t shine spectacularly, I didn’t do nearly as poorly as I’d thought. Here’s the final tally…

• Be Debt Free by the End of the Year – Okay, this was definitely a failure in every way – probably my worst, as I think I might be worse off than at the beginning of the year, due to a horrible bout of therapy shopping. That makes it totally my fault. On the other hand, I did take a few steps in the right direction – primarily in the opening of my Etsy store. I’ve been too busy the past 3 months or so, meaning I’ve not been able to get much stocked, but I’ve had a fair number of sales in relationship to how much I’ve listed.
• Get My Email Under Control – Another failure, though this one doesn’t rest as heavily on my shoulders. I’m also farther behind than at the start of the year, but the busyness and the computer problems were contributing factors.
• Make a Gail Wilson Kit – Well… Poor, dear little Hitty! I’m still painting pieces – as in first class. I have an oops to repair, and have had a problem finding the time for it. I’m not as comfortable with a paintbrush as I am with knitting needles, so I have to be at my best and have some spare time both. This seldom happened in 2009. I’m farther than I was at the start of the year, but no where near success.
• Finish Reba – This is a big zero again this year. With no kiln set up and DH not feeling driven to finish the floor in the laundry room… and then the play date that would have resulted in her completion being canceled by the other party involved… She’s no further ahead nor behind…
• Complete Sewing Room – Not completed by a long shot, but I did get all the shelves painted and loaded, and the mantle is done, plus some smaller bits and pieces. That’s solid forward progress, just not enough of it.
• Complete Laundry Room – Other than one section of floor tile laid, the windows scraped, and the bougainvillea hung, this went nowhere this year – extremely depressing. DH needs to have a tile cut, and he’s not overly motivated to do it. On the other hand, there are things I could have done in that room, but I didn’t do them either.
• Lose 25 Pounds – Lost 14 pounds quickly, then didn’t drop another the rest of the year. While that means I didn’t succeed, the really great thing is that I held steady at the lower number, so I’m ahead of where I was last year this time – so a partial triumph on an important goal.
• Learn to Do Entrelac and Knit Backwards – Since I didn’t say I had to finish the project, this would be a total success. 🙂 I’ve knit far enough on my Autumn Entrelac Shawl to prove I’ve nailed the two techniques, and having learned to knit backwards paid off by making it easy to teach a lefty who showed up at the Knitogethers I hostess at the library. I get a nice star on this goal. 🙂
• Go Somewhere New – This is the first time in many years that I’ve failed this goal. I actually had 3 different cruises planned at various times, any one of which would have qualified this goal, but each time, the other party involved canceled. With no invites and a lean year financially, I had no place to travel, and other than a couple of visits to a friend in PA, I had a no travel year – rather abnormal for me.
• Become Comfortable Spinning – Hmmm… No qualifiers on this one either. 😉 I didn’t do what I’d pictured at the beginning of the year, but I’ve played with my spinning a fair bit, and I’m able to produce fairly consistent yarn on my supported spindles finally. I’m definitely pleased with my progress. 🙂
• Read 100 Books – Click here for current status. Total success, but just under the wire! I thought this was a shoo-in, but all the changes over Christmas week were nearly the death of this one! With hubby’s support, New Year’s Eve saw me listening to the last 4 disks of my 100th book, which I finished just before 10:00 pm – a bit too close for comfort, so far as I’m concerned!
• Knit Another Pair of Socks – Did it! I don’t think I’ve blogged them, but they are here on Ravelry, finished at the end of September, and I’m wearing them almost constantly. 🙂
• Stash All My Downstairs Yarn on Ravelry – Well… I didn’t get this one finished, but I did work on it. I had 244 at t he beginning of the year, and 550 now, so I nearly doubled what is done. Lots to go! It would help if yarn didn’t keep wandering into the house…
• Do a “Difficult” Lace Pattern – It wasn’t what I’d planned to do, but I did qualify to consider this done when I made my three little cobweb lace shawls. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I blogged them either. I’ve not done so well at blogging my knitting this year. 😦
• Do Something/Anything with my CSM – Qualified this one, too! It wasn’t much, but I’ve knit tubes on my machine now, so I know it’s in working order. I need to spring for some parts and tools before I can do much more, but I’m thrilled to know my machine is functional. 🙂
• Take Steps Toward Designing Knitting Patterns – Laughing – succeeded on this and then some! I’d say I more than exceeded my expectations. 😀

In my knitting this year, I tallied 12,660 yards of yarn knit – comfortably over 7 miles! This doesn’t count several projects, like Spitzbergen and Beauty’s Song, for instance, as they are difficult to total while in progress. It also doesn’t count the massive amounts of yarn knit into swatches for my design work. Once I started designing, I was startled to see how much my yarn consumption decreased. I never thought about how much longer it takes to knit when you aren’t using someone else’s finished pattern… but slower or not, it’s worth it. 🙂

Things that happened that took me totally by surprise this past year:

• Being the speaker for the Dayton Knitting Guild in March.
• Publishing two good knitting patterns and getting 3 more to the point of being just a few hours of work away from being ready to put out.
• Teaching knitting classes for hire.
• Hostessing a KAL – and with my own pattern to boot!
• Having new friendship blossom
• Having to reconstruct computer files, etc., after being offline 3 weeks due to a computer virus
• Discovering how difficult it can be to cope emotionally when one daughter experiences a fractured wrist, an earthquake, two armed burglaries, the kidnapping of a church member, and a political coup all within 6 months’ time, and all incurred at a distance that made it impossible for me to do much beyond pray

In the end, it wasn’t a bad year, though it was insanely busy. I’m looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for me and for those whose lives are a vital part of my own.

May you have a year filled with many blessings and the eyes to see them all!

Happy New Year!

Momentous Day!

I feel like today has been a very long time coming – even longer than the 16 1/2 months it really was.

In June of last year, I began tearing up my sewing room – the official start of a complete remodeling. No, I’m not anywhere near done with the entire project, but today I completed  what is undoubtedly the single biggest project within the project – the fireplace… or actually faux fireplace. I’m obviously eager to share it with you all, and I thought this would be a good time to show everything that was involved in doing it. Yes, it was a lot of work. No, it wouldn’t have taken nearly this long if had only been focused on this one project (Get real!), and hadn’t been waylaid by occasionally having to depend on someone else and by having only an outdoor work area that is useless during at least a third of the year.

So anyway, here is what I started with June a year ago:

A little scary, isn’t it? Seriously not the look I needed for the vision I have of my room.

We hauled it outside, and I spent days stripping it.

The outer coat of paint bubbled and came off nicely, but the under layer was a total nightmare, first refusing to soften at all, and then turning into a molasses like substance that dripped all over everything, but didn’t clean off the wood easily. The process reminded me just how much I hate stripping paint. 😦 Eventually I did get it clean enough.

I never did manage to positively identify the wood, which was really pretty. I wish I could have used it just varnished, but there was just no way. The bottom of both columns was rotted out. The photo below actually shows the far better of the two sides. The other bottom was almost entirely missing, and what was still there was a series of wafer thin, gill-like strips of wood from the stronger part of the grain. Of course, I did that side first, then realized I’d forgotten to take a picture… sigh…

I dug out my Apoxie Sculpt and used it to reconstruct the missing areas on the columns, to reinforce the areas that were honeycombed, and to also replace the missing corners on the top of the mantle. I love this stuff – total miracle product in my opinion. The uses are endless, and here it was a lifesaver!

Since this is easily sanded when dry, I didn’t worry about doing a perfect job when filling.

Here is one of the columns sanded and primed – definite improvement, eh? In fact, by the end of July, the whole thing was looking substantially better. 🙂

This is also when I started running into some problems. First, it was far too hot outside to paint for the better part of several weeks. The paint was drying almost on contact, producing a nasty, lumpy, torn, and streaked finish. I scrubbed one entire coat off (in tears) while it was still damp enough to do so, and then I parked the project until the cooler days of autumn. I did get the painting done before I took my somewhat unexpected trip to Honduras for 3 weeks, but by the time I was home, it was past the outdoor work season. My freshly painted mantle spent the winter parked on sawhorses in the driveway, right where my car belonged, collecting dirt. Glad we didn’t too much snow last winter. 😉

As soon as spring arrived, I got out a bucket of warm water and a miracle cloth, and cleaned my baby up – thankfully no long term damage! I lit a fire under hubby to get the next part of the project done, as I didn’t want to leave it out during the approaching rainy season. Originally, the mantle had hung on the wall, more or less resting on the carpet, but with the carpet gone, there was a big gap between the bottom of the columns and the floor. I had him make plinths to go in this space and also to help support the mantle a bit, rather than have the entire weight on the wall brackets we’d installed. The plinths weren’t an easy project for him. First of all, he’s still not fully comfortable with using the router, especially to do an edging. Secondly, the floor is extremely sloped, so the pieces he needed to make weren’t the same, and weren’t even square. He did a pretty nice job, though, and the final product looks almost original.

Oops! Where did that bit of dust come from?

Meanwhile, I’d also decided very quickly that the piece of brick paneling was NOT going to be part of the finished look. After several hours of internet research, I decided on antique fireplace brick and a fireplace cover as the solution, and with many more hours of effort, I finally found exactly what I wanted. When the brick arrived, though, I discovered that I’d been misled about what I was getting. I had another huge project ahead of me before they could be used – hours and hours and hours standing outside at the bench grinder getting rid of the old mortar. Pix of the tile grinding are in this blog post.

On the other hand, the fireplace cover was absolutely splendid, and very much to my taste.

The moment I saw it, I knew it was “the one.” She reminds me of Lady Liberty on the 1800’s coins – much like the draped bust coins in feel but even better, and she reminds me of my internet handle of “Face From the Past.” 🙂

Once the tiles were cleaned, I was facing yet another daunting task. The floor is sloped, but the mantle is level, so that I can put clocks on it. I had to lay the tiles in such a way that they didn’t make anything look out of plumb, even though all of it was. I took loads of measurements and drew everything out on the backing board, then spent a long and tense evening while hubby was on the road a couple weeks ago  spacing tiles in such a way that they were parallel to the mantle at the top edge, but parallel to the floor by the time they got down to the fireplace insert. (See why I was knitting the Un-Spun projects? Definitely needed to de-stress!)

I was terrified that it was going to look awful to have such a dramatic change in spacing in only a couple of feet of space, and it was terribly tedious work, as I couldn’t even use spacers. I stuck the tiles down one at a time with Dap StrongStik after testing it on some scrap and finding it impossible to remove the tile the next day.

About a week later – last Sunday, actually – it was time to do the grouting. With a bit of a giggle, I dug out my tools – the postal scale I use when shipping merchandise, a big cranberry mixing bowl, a small measuring cup, and a rubber spatula – enough to make any man cringe – and stirred up a batch of grout. May not be exactly standard equipment, but I definitely feel comfortable with it, and I think it’s a lot easier to use than the suggested trowel and who knows what sort of container.

It looked so much like a bowlful of batter that I just had to laugh, and I laughed even more when I was washing the tile down a little later, as I noticed the water and my sponge had taken on the definite appearance of

a square yoked egg! 😀

Anyway… I was extremely relieved to see that once the grout was added, the variation in tile spacing drifted into the background, becoming something that I only notice if I look for it.

Now there was the problem of mounting the cover, and after wondering for weeks how I was going to accomplish it, last night the solution came to me suddenly and totally unexpectedly – and it was SO simple! I’d already thought about using the StrongStik to adhere it to the tile face, but I was still concerned that if it ever let loose, it would slam forward and possibly damage something – a special concern since I expect my china dolls will want to hang out around the fireplace once I’m finished with the room. I don’t know what took me so long to think of this, but there was a solid wire loop attached to the back of the cover, and all I needed to do was twist a screw-eye into the backing board below the tiles and tie a strong string between the screw-eye and the wire – instant insurance! Why that took me months to think of is beyond me!

So today was the big day – the day we picked up this monstrously heavy tiled board and moved it into the sewing room, lifted the mantle off the wall, and put it all together, allowing me to see for the first time in real life what has been living in my dreams for over 16 months. I am definitely NOT disappointed!!!

Drumroll please….

(and perhaps another peek back to that original photo at the top of the post???)

Ta-dah!!!

Sorry picture is a wee bit dark - bad lighting in the room... for now...

Yup! I’m seriously thrilled!!! 😀 Can’t wait until I can dress it now!

Dancing away for the second time this week…

One Leap Forward!

I’m  currently on a bit of a high! I just now finished grinding the fireplace tiles for my mantle project in the sewing room, and I’m so, so, so, SO glad to be done with it! It was a noisy, dusty, boring job that just went on and on and on. Hubby and I have to share the outdoor workspace, and I have been deferring to him because what he’s been doing is more critical over all to our  projects. With so much rain this summer, me not being able to work outside when people are mowing, and the numerous other things that have been claiming my time, I just hadn’t been squeezing in time for more than a tile here and there. Now that it’s October, the weather is reminding me that it won’t be long until we have to shut down all the outdoor projects until next spring, and I really don’t want that to happen before I finish this one big outdoor project I still have to do right now. Today’s sunny mid 50’s temperatures coincided with Hubby being away from home for the day. I have a lot of work to do before I teach knitting classes on Monday, but I decided I would take a “few minutes” to go grind more tiles. Once I got going, I started thinking about a whole winter waiting to finish, and before long, I convinced myself that I just might be able to get through all the rest. Now my back and head ache from the racket and standing so long in one position, but I’m ecstatic to be done!

Next step will be to transfer the tiles to another surface and thoroughly clean them and the backer board. Then I get the nerve wracking project of gluing them in place, and the easy project of grouting. I’m looking forward to sharing a finished project, hopefully very soon!

Now I shall go dancing through the rest of my evening with a big grin on my face! 😀

Call the Doctor or the Circus?

I’d really like to see what just happened on a video replay – I think…

I’d done some cleaning and moved the fan, which moved the cord. Apparently I didn’t get the cord back in the correct location. This is not a good thing. I’ve been stepping over the cord in the same spot for several years. With it in a different spot… well, I didn’t step over it, but instead, I caught the toe of my sandal with it. At the time, I just happened to be carrying a half full gallon of paint in one hand and a somewhat green, just used paintbrush in the other. I was not wearing my normal painting clothes. And I was walking across an unfinished hardwood floor.

I must have taken my guardian angel by surprise, as I didn’t get off Scot free, but what did happen was nothing short of a miracle. In an effort to not crash to the floor or create the worst mess I’d ever needed to clean up, I tried to stop myself with several pieces of furniture and a couple of plastic tubs in the area. (This is one time it was actually good to have too much stuff around!) I made contact with various surfaces at least six times. I abraded my right forearm twice – in two different directions and hit it hard enough to create a big lump. My right wrist hurts, my shoulder will have a substantial bruise in another hour or two,  I scraped the back side of that elbow, and there will be another deep bruise on my knee. On my left side, I came down hard enough on my foot that my ankle is hurting and a little bit stiff, and I ripped my thumbnail, which I thankfully had just cut short a few hours earlier. I also wrenched my lower back a bit.

However, with all that, I not only never actually hit the floor, but I didn’t spill a drop of paint, nor did the brush leave anything behind anywhere, including on my clothes! How I bounced around like a pinball and did that much damage to myself, yet didn’t get even a trace of paint where it didn’t belong is beyond me, and I’d sure like to see how I managed it! Next week, once I’m not so stiff I can’t move (which is a feeling that is coming on very quickly now), perhaps I’ll look into learning to juggle. I seem to have an untapped talent here!

And by the way, I had just moments earlier completed painting the first of the big drawers for the drawered cabinet that goes under the TV in the nook – the one I posted a few days ago with the cats using it as a hideout. One down, five to go… :o)

Yep, Still Remodeling…

I’ve been receiving queries about how the remodeling is or is not progressing, and I guess it has been a good while since I’ve posted any sort of an update. I keep hoping for something truly exciting to report, but there is so much going on around here that it’s more baby steps than strides. DH isn’t as inspired this year either. However, there are some definite positives since my last report.

We’ll start in my sewing room…

I actually finished the mantle last fall, but we weren’t able to get it into the house until this summer. The project isn’t entirely finished, but I have to confess I’m really loving the look so far! I’ll do a full post when everything is done, as there are a number of details I want to share. Right now, the next step involves me and a bench grinder. No comment about how exciting that is… See, I bought some antique fireplace tiles on ebay, and was somewhat ripped off due in part to my naivety in the matter, and part due to the seller… What should have been an over abundance of tiles turned out to be not quite enough, as part of them had been dipped in acid to remove the mortar from the back. This procedure did a fantastic job on the mortar, but  apparently also dulled the surface. That maybe wouldn’t have been awful if they all looked alike, but the others had shiny faces and tons of mortar. Only the shiny ones were numerous enough for the project, so now I’m having the “joy” of turning this:

into this:

And it’s a reeeeeeeally boring process! All I can say is that this had better look utterly fantastic when I’m done!!!

I’ve also managed to squeeze in some painting time, at last finishing the high shelves in my sewing room. This is an outdoor project, and it has to be worked around the weather, mowing neighbors, evening mosquito time, and DH filling the air with sawdust. Somehow, though, I did manage it, and they are up and waiting for the curing time to run out so I can reload them – and mark one more big step off the list. 🙂 They look so nice that I keep popping into the room just to admire them.

And just as a reminder as to why this makes me so happy, I started out with paneling, black brackets, and bare wood shelves. Look a little better than before?

I will just skip the laundry room, which has gone nowhere since the last section of tile was laid in the spring. The next set involves a hole for the drain, and that doesn’t seem to be happening. I’ll say no more…

The nook is plodding, but happening. It’s not moving anywhere near the speed it did last year, but positive things are happening nonetheless. Last fall saw the completion of all the DVD drawers, but work stopped short of building the enclosure to hold them. That was the first woodworking DH did this summer. Now it’s my turn, and there is a ton of painting to do! Good thing is that if I work on just a piece or two at a time, I can do that inside, so I won’t be hampered by the same constraints that slowed the shelves. Now it’s just a matter of squeezing the project into my schedule when I can.

Next part of the nook is to build the little cabinet where the TV will sit. The bottom portion will house the spare office supplies – a desperately needed space for which I’m exceedingly eager! The outer cabinet is done, and currently DH is working on the drawers, which are on heavy duty pull outs to handle the weight of paper reams and such. I gave up trying to get pix without cats, as this has proven to be a favorite installation for them. Tyg was extremely unhappy when I started painting it. The odor wasn’t to his liking. He’s taken to sitting on a box about two feet away from it, staring rather forlornly. He’s not going to appreciate the rest of the drawers being added either, I don’t suppose…

Tyg – official inspector of anything shaped like a box. He used to have the prettiest face of all our kitties, but his dreadful habit of constantly rubbing and marking has worn the fur off his nose – not a good look.

I guess this passes inspection…

Tyg’s sister, Doodle, disagreed with him. She’s sure this is her private bath chamber. I’ve spared you the bathing beauty pix and shared wild cat instead.

Adding the drawers didn’t change Tyg’s opinion. He still loves “his” cave… and I’m trying not to feel too guilty about giving him the boot…

And much to my discredit, I’ve yet to paint my new studio doors from last summer, so nothing to show there.

So that’s it on the world’s slowest remodeling projects for now. Anyone want to guess when one of these will actually be finished?

Looking Forward; Looking Back

I think I’m officially the last person in the entire blogging world to do this, but it’s been percolating so long that I can’t quite bring myself to not do it. Besides, I feel like I need to, if only for myself, so here goes – my New Year’s Day post!

I never was real keen on making New Year’s resolutions, as it just seems like the perfect way to start off the year with a resounding dose of failure. Sometime around the end of January you eat that piece of turtle cheesecake, miss 3 consecutive days of exercising, or realize you are already a week behind in your read the Bible in a year program, and you promptly brand yourself a loser, throw hopeless hands up into the air, and say, “Maybe next year…” I just don’t need that sort of thing in my life. I’ve fought hard to get where I am emotionally, so I have no intent to shoot myself in the foot by setting myself up to 334 days of each year thinking uncharitably about myself. However, like most of the people I know, I do feel that fresh start excitement that comes with the scent of a January calendar page, and a couple years back, I came up with an idea that is working much better for me – New Year’s Goals.

New Year’s Goals have very few rules, though last year they did need a few more than they had. They have to actually be possible. I’m not allowed to beat myself up if I don’t accomplish them. They have to be well defined. Two of those three rules were added this year. Having goals instead of resolutions gives me an entire year to succeed, and they help focus my ecclectic brain on a little bit narrower range of possibilities. Another benefit is that it sets some things before me that I have heard myself say, “I always wanted to” so many times I’m sick of hearing it, but without a steady reminder, I find drifting out of my mind when I have the time.

Last year’s goals were not too many:

• Knit a Pair of Socks – This one was accomplished with my Coriolis Socks, which I absolutely adore!
• Master Lace Knitting – This goal would show you just how little I knew about lace knitting December a year ago. It’s also totally undefinable in reality. Just how does one know they’ve “mastered” lace knitting? Should have been “Become Very Comfortable Knitting Lace.” That I definitely accomplished.
• Go Somewhere New – I didn’t think I was going to get this, but when I ended up with a nearly last minute trip to Honduras, which included a side trip through Guatemala into Belize, I found I’d accomplished it well beyond my original dream.
• Read 100 Books – Somewhere around June, I added this, which has now been classed as an illegal move on New Year’s Goals. I didn’t succeed, but I might well have made it had I not read th e entire Outlander series. Books with 48 CD’s take a good bit longer to read than your run of the mill 6-10 CD offering.
• Make a Gail Wilson Kit – Considering the collection I have of the kits, I thought it was time to put my money where my mouth is – or my hands where my money is, or some such thing. Thinking is as far as I got with this one. Oops!
• Finish the Laundry Room Remodeling – Well… Perhaps this would have happened if my dear daughter hadn’t offered to help get the sewing room started, then hubby hadn’t suddenly revived his nook project and added allowing me a studio door. I was spread too thin with those four projects to complete even one of them, though I don’t regret the progress that was made on all.
• Be out of Debt by the End of the Year – Total flop. ‘Nough said?

My list for 2009 is much longer and definitely more ambitious, but I’m doing some things differently, and I’m feeling quite positive about a lot of them. The biggest change is that this year, I’m not settling back in January and thinking that I have a whole year to do this stuff after all, so why rush? There have been a fair number of serendipitous occurrences to help me move in the right direction, too, so I’m off to a great start! I don’t really think I’ll be able to get them all done, but I’d sure like to surprise myself, and I’m not going to aim low!

• Be Debt Free by the End of the Year – I hate having to have this goal. This also includes non-financial IOU’s. I’m going to have to have a miracle to pull this one off. I need to sell an awful lot of books if this is going to happen – and my knitting pattern needs to be a smashing success! I also have several projects, including a quilt to finish for this.
• Get My Email Under Control – This is another one in the miracle category, but who knows?
• Make a Gail Wilson Kit – Sound familiar? Serendipity is that Gail is currently running a Hitty class, I have the kit, and the fee wasn’t very high. I’m far behind the front runners, but I HAVE actually started my girl.
• Finish Reba – The most attainable of the miracle class of goals. There is little to do for her to be complete, but it involves a kiln, learning to fire bisque, renewing my acquaintance with bisque painting, and getting up the nerve to put my beautiful, nearly done head in for a last firing.
• Complete Sewing Room – Mid-range in terms of difficulty. I’ve done an awful lot in there, but I still have oodles of sorting and organizing, along with quite a bit of trim painting to do – like the bookcase and two casement windows. This isn’t a gimme!
• Complete Laundry Room – Another mid-range sort of project. As much as is done in there, the floor tile is a bothersome, time consuming project, and I have some trim painting to do. Really challenging would be that I have to stop knitting long enough to crochet the curtains!
• Lose 25 Pounds – This is going to be easier than I thought. I’m already half the way there!
• Learn to Do Entrelac and Knit Backwards – I’m really looking forward to this one. I have the pattern and yarn to do Autumn, and a week or so back, I finally found a tutorial that made knitting backwards suddenly easy. I’m still slightly awkward at it, but a little bit of practice and it’s going to be second nature. Biggest challenge here is just to actually break away from the temptation of so many interesting KAL’s and do this piece.
• Go Somewhere New – Looking very challenging at this point in time. I had two cruises planned for this year, both to new places,  both depending on other people, and both fell through already. So much for this goal being a gimme. All the states within decent driving distance I already have, and I don’t currently have any good set up for a low cost visit in a new state or country – and there ‘s that “out of debt” business… Stay tuned!
• Become Comfortable Spinning – Easy? Well… First I have to finish building my wheel. Then all that remains is finding time!
• Read 100 Books – I’m really cooking on this one already! I think I just listed book 15 – or was it 16?
• Knit Another Pair of Socks – This is more desperation than goal. I adore my socks and I hate it when I have to take them off to wash them! I need more hand knit socks!!! This is a “just do it!” sort of project, and I’m sort of hoping that the SHP KAL is enough to jumpstart the process.
• Stash All My Downstairs Yarn on Ravelry – This would be much easier if the stash would quit multiplying! That said, I’ve already been working hard on this. I’m currently at 244 in my regular stash, so ignoring minor fluctuations due to usage, it will be interesting to see where I am on Dec. 31.
• Do a “Difficult” Lace Pattern – Challenge here is just focusing on doing it – ignoring some of the other rabbits dashing across my path constantly. It’s tough to do that with something like 7 shawls on my  needles and two KAL’s imminent…
• Do Something/Anything with my CSM – I’m not even aiming so high as a pair of socks at this point. I just want to sit down with someone and find out for sure my machine actually works! Socks would be a nice side benefit to the process, though. ;o) A circular sock machine is too valuable to just hold down the floor, in my opinion, and that’s all my lazy contraption has done for about 3 years now.

Now that I type this all out, I’m thinking it’s a very good thing I have a solid start on so much of it. This is quite a list!!! I think I’m going to make a separate page listing the goals in the sidebar here on the blog, then update as things happen…

It Doesn’t Seem Quite Fair

I’m still here, believe it or not. The irony of things is that the more I have to post, the less time I have to do so. If I’m quiet here, you can pretty much figure I’m up to my neck, and that’s definitely the case right now. Knitting has been busy, but the Mistake Fairy has been making life pretty miserable, allowing me far less progress than the hours knitting would lead one to expect. I have just received pattern and yarn for a test knit, so some projects will be going on hold, or at least moved down a rung, until I complete that project, which I have to say is very exciting to me. I’ve also been scheduled as the speaker for the Dayton Knitting Guild meetings in March – which both excites and terrifies me! Lots more knitting excitement, too, but I will leave that to another post.

Sewing room is progressing slowly, but steadily. I’m putting things in their homes or the sale pile, with a fairly comprehensive sorting as I go. It feels time consuming to me to be doing the slow part of the project mixed in with the faster things, but I think it’s smart for me and the way my brain works. They say that 80% of  a job takes 20% of the time and the other 20% takes 80% of the time on a project. I’m not good at getting back to an interrupted project, so what happens most often for me is that the 80% gets done, then something comes up to sidetrack me, and I never get back to that 20%. Of course, do that often enough and the balance tips – i.e. there is a house full of 20%ers. I’ve been very diligent since the first of the year to work in there at least 15 minutes per day, often more, and it is paying off nicely. There are places I just don’t have enough room to store all that I own, so I’ve gone through needlework books and patterns yet again, a second cull, and will be trying to decide where and how to list what I have available to sell – when I have time, that is. This has been tough for me, as I really think I have good taste. I didn’t plan on getting rid of what I sorted out the last time, let alone going through yet again. However, the book shelves are wood, not rubber, and there’s a limit as to what fits!

I’m looking forward to a visit from my daughter in Honduras and my own trip to visit a friend in Pennsylvania, both planned to happen in the next 6 weeks. With the continued clean up, an online class, an awful lot more email that normal, the Bleuette Stash Swap, which I host each year, and my knitting, it’s really been busy here!

Thought you might enjoy a few pix of our ice and snow storm from last week. I was surprised to get good photos. My camera is sick, and it only focuses when it’s in the mood. Happily enough, it apparently decided these were worthy of the effort.The one above is by far  my favorite, but I’m fairly pleased with all three shots.

Turned a Corner!

With very little fanfare at the actual moment, I turned a huge corner in my lagging sewing room this past evening. I’ve barely been in there the past few months, due in large part to trip prep and actual travel. It’s been frustrating, as I’d wanted to start putting it back together while the weather was still decent, and I still had painting to do outdoors. Somehow, I think that our temperatures in the 20’s and 30’s aren’t quite what Behr recommends for paint application, though. But, I digress…

So, since I came home, I’ve stolen a few minutes here and there and nudged DH a few times for some of the detail work, and in the process, managed to get every bit of the painting at the back end of the room completed at long last. I can hardly believe I’m saying that! However, tonight he carried down the big tote with my Central and South American dolls and treasures, and I reloaded the high shelves on the back wall. It was a lot of fun to dust off each piece and really look at them again for the first time in years. One does tend to get jaded to a constant display. I was surprised to find that I have two dolls using drop spindles, one of the girls being just over an inch tall! She was purchased years ago, and I’m not even sure I knew what it was she was doing at that point. Now she’s an even better treasure!

Pardon the funny angle. Space is tight and I did the best I could.

So, why is this such a major turning point for me? Well, that is the first location in the room that something has been officially put into its permanent new home, not to be moved again! There will be much to move, sort, clean, and shuffle in the days to come, but I’m done with those two high shelves for good! I’m SO excited!!!

About the dolls and other treasures – I’ve been accumulating these for about 25 years. They range in age from very vintage to bought new last month. Some are gifts brought by traveling friends and family, some purchased on my own journeys. Many have been rescued from yard sales, some from stores, and several from doll shows I used to attend when they had them on Saturdays in Ohio. The dolls and other items come from Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Cuba, various Carribean Islands, and other Latin American Countries, and, if you look very closely, you might even be able to figure out which three of the dolls I made myself! Leave a comment if you’d like to guess. :o)

Back on the Job

It’s been a long while since I’ve said much about my sewing room, mostly because it’s been somewhat neglected. Having worked very diligently to get the back wall ready for the wallpaper liner in September, we were blessed with what I have less than fondly referred to as a dry hurricane. The Sunday afternoon that was to be “the day” was sunny and clear – a very deceptive day, because we also played host to Hurricane Ike, as he pushed a massive front through Ohio. I’ve never seen wind like what we experienced – and yes, it was hurricane force winds. Considering it was blowing lumber off the picnic table, which is in a sheltered location, pasting wallpaper there would have required nailing the stuff down! To make matters worse, the wind took out the power not only for us, but for millions of others, and I’m not keen on trying to hang paper in the dark.

Turns out that this was just the beginning of what was to be a very frustrating adventure for me. Power was restored the next day to most everyone. We even got power here – sort of… We have two power feeds to our house, and one came back just fine, while the other didn’t. I knew immediately that spelled trouble, as individual outages are very low on the totem pole, and since we had a little bit of power, too, I was sure we were in for the long haul. What we had was lights in the kitchen, downstairs bathroom, laundry room, and master bedroom, which included having the refrigerator and freezer working. This was a sincere blessing, and I’m far from being ungrateful. However, what we did without was power to all other rooms, and everything on the 220 line was out, hence no stove, oven, washer, dryer, hot water heater, or air conditioning. Whereas I could see in the kitchen, I couldn’t cook. I could see in the laundry room, but not wash clothes. And I could see my goosebumps in the bathroom if I decided to take a cold water bath… DH ran a heavy duty extension cord through the house so I could be online, meaning I didn’t go totally nuts. However, by the end of 12 days of groping around my house by flashlight and taking diaper wiper baths, I was a certified grouch. In fact, I was in such a foul mood that I didn’t even trust myself to blog about it.

A few hours before the end of the 12th day, I called the power company to see if we were on the schedule. No… sigh… So I called some friends and begged piteously to use their shower, which after nearly 2 weeks sounded mighty fine. I got home two hours later to find our power restored, 12 days almost to the minute after we originally lost it. Wish I’d have done the shower bit a lot sooner!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand… It was several more weekends before DH and I both had the same day available for a big project again, but it did happen at long last. I’m sure glad this part of the project is done! Here’s the new look on the back wall in my sewing room.

Impressed? Oh… Would you be more impressed if I reminded you that it used to look like this?

I know that wall pretty intimately now, truth be told. First I sanded the paneling, then I scrubbed it. Next came a coat of primer, followed by the wallpaper liner, which is hung horizontally (always fun… and definitely not a solo project). By the time it has two more coats of primer over the liner, it looks very white, but it’s also barely changed appearance in quite a while – not a terribly rewarding project actually, especially if glare white isn’t your favorite look. I’m working on two coats of brown now, so if not for having already been over the wall 6 times, it wouldn’t be too bad of a task. More pix coming – and hopefully soon! I’m eager to have my room back, but there’s so much else happening, it’s tough to spend much time in there. However, when I DO get in to work, I have to say that it’s a tremendous joy to not have to look at any fake wood whatsoever!