And, if you happen to be local to me, there are two big events coming up in the next month!

First, next weekend is the Clash in the Coalfields. It’s a multi-team scrimmage taking place on August 27 in Madison, WV. There are skaters representing at least 8 different teams! (maybe. I can’t find where I read that so maybe I made it up) It’s going to be crazy. Don’t miss it. Tickets are available here.  20% of the door goes to the medical fund of a local boy diagnosed with leukemia and concessions sales will benefit Rev-Up Madison!

Then, on September 10 is the Chucktown Shutdown! It’s a double-header event featuring Sandusky Rollergirls vs Ohio Valley Rollergirls first. Then the main feature, Chemical Valley Rollergirls vs Blackwater Rollers! This is Chemical Valley’s first home bout so be there to support them! Tickets are available here. 10% of the proceeds from this event go to the Children’s Therapy Clinic in Charleston.

 My team, the Jewel City Rollergirls will be having our very first bout this fall! More details on that when they become finalized. West Virginia has some exciting derby events coming up! Don’t miss out!

But the thing about this older patterns, in order to save on ink, they typically are very basic outlines. It’s up to the stitcher to fill in all the things that need to be filled in. This sometimes leads to images looking a little…off. So when I showed my friend this vintage squirrel pattern, she was immediately creeped out. And then asked me to stitch it for her on a bag. And to make the eyes red so the true demon inside the squirrel could come out.

Tuesday was my friend’s birthday and the day she finally received her demon squirrel.

Creepy, eh? Demon squirrel will eat your soul.

The eyes are satin stitch with red satin thread. I don’t care to ever work with that again. No matter what I did, the thread snagged and knotted with nearly every stitch. The majority of the outline stitching is chain stitch.

My favorite bit, other than the demon eyes, are the sweet little french knot flowers. I adore making french knots. I think I feel a french knot project coming on.

So Happy Birthday Nadine! Enjoy your Demon Squirrel Bag. But don’t turn your back on it.

 When I left in February, my life was in total upheaval and it still is to some degree. Things have finally come to a place where life should be settling down into a rhythm once again. And although it is a completely new-to-me rhythm, and not one I ever expected to be learning, I find myself looking forward to it. So when I got this tweet from Jan, it got me thinking again about the sweet old bloggy. I realized I’m not quite ready to give it up yet. So here we are again (after all these years. I never could resist a Paul Simon reference).

A lot has changed in the past few months. It’s just Izzy and me now, doing our own thing.

I’ve taken up a new hobby that really, really takes up all my time and energy. Especially my energy. And I can tell you one thing for sure, I never expected myself to be involved in this but I am so happy I am.

The friends I’ve made over the past few months make all the bruises, the soreness, the sweat, the tears, and the lingering knee injury worth it (note: that is not exactly my injury but the closest information I could find. My kneecap is not actually broken but does have some small fissures/cracks in it).

Of course, I still knit and stitch and fuss around making stuff. But it really has taken a bit of a back burner to the rest of my life.

Given all that’s changed, I’m not sure what direction this blog is going to go in. I still want to focus mainly on the crafting but that doesn’t happen nearly as much as it used to. Posting may happen once a week or maybe once every other week. Heck, maybe I’ll go crazy and be spurred by the blog to take up my breakneck speed again.

I know one thing for sure. I’m definitely not deleting the blog. The idea of finding a place to move all the tutorials that are still being used (judging from the page view stats) is pretty horrifying. I’d rather stay here and talk to you folks rather than do all that extra work. For now, we’re together again and that’s what matters.

(Didn’t you miss my abuse of parenthetical asides?!)

Some very serious changes are happening in my life and I’ve put everything on hold to deal with the situation. Life as I knew it has changed completely and it feels as though the world has been turned upside down. I haven’t had the time and/or the energy to deal with the issues going on and continue to bring content here at the same time. Some things have had to be cut.

I feel as though I am on the downside of the siutation now. The worst of it has been weathered and healing can hopefully begin. I am not, however, quite ready to return to this place. You’ll be the first to know when I am.

Until then, you can still find me loitering around the internet.

Pinterest

Ravelry

See ya around folks.

In addition to my crafting resolutions and my reading resolution, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish personally in 2011. Typically in the past, I’ve been a shunner of the resolution tradition. It seemed like everybody made the same resolutions every year and never stuck to them. “I’m going to get in shape!” “I’m going to stop smoking!” “I’m going to learn a new language!” And, reliably, in about 2 months time, the resolutions were forgotten and people returned to their status quo.

As I get older, I don’t think the problem lies in the idea of resolutions really. I think the problem lies in the way we go about them. America is the land of bigger, better, faster. Bigger cars. Bigger trucks. Bigger meals. Bigger malls. Bigger homes. Bigger tvs. Etc. Etc. It’s not surprising this is how we go about everything. It’s almost as if we are a nation (and generation) of hyperbole. You’re going to lose 5 pounds next year? I’m going to lose 100! You’re going to stop smoking? I’m going to stop smoking and run the New York Marathon!!!! Unrealistic.

We set ourselves up for these unrealistic goals that honestly couldn’t be achieved if we really tried. Then we feel 11 months of guilt when we don’t do them. And start the self-perpetuating cycle all over again next December 31. Where’s the logic in this?! It makes no sense at all.

I’m just as guilty of these hyperbolic resolutions as the rest of the country.  Last year, I read 45 books. Next year I’m going to read a million!! So this time, I’m looking at doing something I can really accomplish. Some things I know I (the hard to get started, lazy, sometimes overachieving person that I am) can actually do.

In 2011, I want to eat breakfast. I never do and consequently I’m starving at lunch and eat bunches of unhealthy things in my hypoglycemic rampage through the fast food district. Then I feel even worse because I’m bloated from hamburgers and 2 liter servings of pop. Awful. I didn’t eat breakfast today and I just had a healthy lunch. Guess what? I’m still hungry. Note: I do not actually have hypoglycemia. That’s more of that hyperbole I was talking about earlier. 

In 2011, I want to get outside more. Walks. Hikes. Sitting in the sun on my freaking deck. Vitamin D is good for us.

In 2011, I want to get rid of stuff and not bring in extra stuff. Do I need eleventy hundred necklaces? Honestly, my gut reaction is YES ABSOLUTELY. But not really. Those pants that haven’t fit since college? Gone. How about 3 rooms FULL of books? Not necessary. We have too much stuff. That $1 aisle at the front of Target? It was made for me. I get sucked in every. single. time. I don’t need it.

These are three of my resolutions I’m sharing here. Simple things that can be approached and changed on a daily basis but will have a huge impact on my life. That’s the way to do resolutions.

I hope. We’ll see if I’m eating my words in 12 months….

I only had 1 reading resolution last year (and the same one for next year). To read more books than I did the previous year. And I did. In 2009, I read 45 books. In 2010, I read 47. Not very many more than 2009 but I did it.

I had a hard time at the beginning of the year coming up with titles to try. Until I found Flashlight Worthy Books. I scoured every one of their lists for books to read and they contributed greatly to my list of read books for the year.

Best book I read in 2010?
I read a lot of great books this year and it’s hard for me to pick from them. Push by Sapphire was probably my favorite. I cried through the entire book. Mrs. Bridge by Evan Connell was also a great read. It relies heavily on subtlety. If you’re not paying attention to what the satire is about, it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day humdrums of this woman’s life. Well written satire at its best. Other great books of the year, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Collector by John Fowles, and Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris.

Worst book in 2010?
There wasn’t really a book this year that made me curl my nose and question why I read it. Or one that made me wish I had the hours I’d wasted on it back. The Boy With the Cuckoo Clock Heart wasn’t amazing. It tried hard to be a good fairy tale but it felt like it fell short in the end. Build up, build up, let down. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time was one that I didn’t particularly enjoy but could see its worth. It just wasn’t a book for me. I was on a big serial killer kick this year and read everything I could get my hands on. However, they weren’t all enjoyable. Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell? Eh. It was ok but nothing special. The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson was probably the only book of the year I had to force myself to finish. And Perfume: The Story of a Murderer was not as exciting as the plot synopsis lead me to believe. 

Overall it was a good year for books. And considering my “to read” list of titles is well into the 100s, I have a good start for 2011.

Wondering where I get all these books I read? It’s a combination of my public library, discount book stores (books-a-million, Half Price books, etc), and Paperback Swap.

First the photos.

Not all projects are shown because 1. I don’t have photos of every thing I made, 2. Showing all the photos I do have would be…ridiculous, and 3. I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten several things.

While compiling this list, I was more than a little surprised. If you had asked me a couple weeks ago how I did in 2010, I would have told you not very well. I didn’t think I was very productive. But numbers don’t lie.

In 2010, I made approximately:

2 pairs of fingerless gloves
1 pair fingerless mitts
8 pairs of socks (not all completely finished)
6 hats (including ones for babies)
2 pairs of baby booties
2 baby sweaters
14 crocheted potholders
6 shawls
3 pair mittens
7 felt brooches
110 tatted snowflakes
21 mustaches
10 mustaches on sticks
1 large felt flower
5 happy snowmen ornaments
1 Ghostbusters cross-stitch
4 Marshall University ornaments
6 embroidery pieces for home decor
1 blanket
1 blanket to put together for a friend
7 assorted pieces of jewelry, including learning to bead
1 matryoshka ornament
1 cross-stitch pendant (separated because it was more cross-stitch)
2 crocheted hemp bird feeders
50-ish sock blanket squares
1 key cozy
7 tape measure cozies
1 knit sock ornament
6 knit mitten ornaments

2010 was indeed a very busy year. I drove myself crazy being obsessed with quantity. I had so many things I wanted to do and to try and I did try a lot of them. But I also got caught up in the frenzy of it all and forgot to actually stop and enjoy what it is I do.  The internet seems to harbor this Americanized idea of rush, rush, bigger, better, faster. The old saying used to be “15 minutes of fame” but the internet only gives you about 5 seconds. I want to take about 5 steps back from this frenzy, take a deep breath, and slow down. The world is not going to change much because I wasn’t able to make as many mustaches as I would like. Or because I only knit 2 pairs of socks instead of a bazillion. The only thing that will change is my own enjoyment of the process.

To that end I’ve come up with some crafty 2011 resolutions for myself. I want to
*focus on quality not quantity
*try to work from stash as much as possible. I have too much stuff.
*focus on ideas I have instead of getting caught up in the pretty things other people are making. I love using the patterns other people have made but I have some great ideas that are going to waste because I never make time for them.
*spend more time on my etsy shop
*do a 365 project. I recently found myself in a bookstore with a half off coupon and no real idea what to use it on. I found this book in the crafts section and an idea was born. I hope to do a 365 project using this book and embroidery. I’ll be posting my projects in a Flickr set and a weekly update here.

2010 was a very busy year. I accomplished a lot. My hopes for 2011 are more about simplifying and enjoying the process instead of rushing through in order to get to the next big thing.

Have you made any craft resolutions for 2011?

First, a few things about our first Christmas.

1. We had a White Christmas. A rare treat for me since I come from the land of “not much snow ever.”

2. I knit Christmas ornaments.

3. Handmade gifts were exchanged.

Knucks for Mom.

My brother's girlfriend made blankets for us.

Dad built birdhouses made from wood shelving from my grandparents' home.

4. I got a teeny tiny Turkish drop spindle from here that I couldn’t be happier with. Spiders will be envious of the tiny webs I spin.

5. I made this face. A lot.

6. The reason I made that face so much is not pictured here. It was the aproximately 20lbs of candy, cakes, and desserts made by Mom, Jana, and myself. I’m amazed we didn’t all die of sugar overdose. There were: peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge, chocolate covered cherries, coconut bars dipped in chocolate (and without chocolate), peanut butter rolls, cake balls, strawberry cake with fresh strawberries, these little individual chocolate cakes topped with a fresh strawberry, 30 day friendship cake, and on and on.

7. I got to be with my family for Christmas and that made it very Merry indeed.

I’m on Christmas “vacation” until Tuesday. See you folks next week.

Have a very Merry Christmas. Stay warm. Stay safe. Hug somebody you love.