Time for Some Year-End Housecleaning

I can live with dustbunnies and furbunnies and dust and fur and bunnies. What I can’t stand right now is clutter! Everywhere I look there is evidence of a struggle. A struggle with where to put the newly-purchased yarn and various craft supplies. A struggle with where to put the yarn I’m trying to offload via eBay until it sells. A struggle with what to do with the regular knickknacks while I have a few Christmas ones on the bookcase for the next couple of weeks. A struggle with where to store all the extra food I’ve been buying as if I were about to host a houseful of foreign exchange students.

In an 800-square-foot-ish apartment, it’s a constant struggle. I have more closet space here than I’ve had in some full-sized houses I’ve lived in, plus I have a garage with storage space galore. But, you can’t store yarn in a garage (well, you can, but you probably shouldn’t). Plus, I don’t like being in there in general as I always find a bug of some sort, and even when they’re dead they creep me out. Even with 2 hall closets, a pantry in the kitchen that I don’t keep food in, a walk-in closet in my bedroom, shelf storage in the laundry room, an outside closet on my balcony (again…bugs…ick), and the garage, I frequently feel like there’s nowhere to put anything.

You might say, “Get rid of it then!” And you’re right. I have been doing that. In early March (aka “The Good Ol’ Days”) I did a big purge through kitchen cabinets, bookcases, bathroom drawers, etc. A lot went, unfortunately, to the landfill, but a big bunch of stuff went into the trunk of my car to take to a donation site. And then IT happened. No one was taking anything anywhere, so the boxes and bags rode around in my back seat because I needed the trunk for when I picked up groceries at Walmart. A couple months ago I was feeling good about being around other humans (masked ones, from a distance), so I added a bag full of shoes, a bag full of shirts, and a bag full of yarn to what was in my car, and I took it all to the drop-off site. What a great feeling that was to get it out of my house. When I returned home and realized it didn’t even look like I’d removed anything, I was disheartened.

Please, don’t imply that I am a hoarder. I am not walking on top of squashed-down piles of fast food wrappers, with stacks of boxes and clothing about to topple over. I’m simply not good at putting things back where they live, and lately I’ve realized I’m running out of places for the new things to live. I’ve been in this apartment for over 8 years, and I’ve been alone so I can freely shop, which means I’ve filled up the various places things live.

In fact, thanks to the pandemic, I have pretty much purchased anything that pops into my head when I think I might need it. Since March I have acquired:

• A humidifier, as well as a fish that “swims” inside it to keep it clean – thought I had to have this so badly that I gave up a $2 “I can wait” credit on Amazon and took the free same-day delivery – that was a month ago – the directions about where to put it were daunting – can’t be near the wall, especially if you have wallpaper; needs to have a towel under it; shouldn’t be too close to you, especially when you’re sleeping – every flat, sturdy surface in my bedroom is excluded
• A new desk chair – which is now the chair my stuffed giraffe sits in in the corner of the living room – despite my extensive research, I managed to purchase an extremely cool-looking chair that cuts into the back of my leg near the back of my knee, even when I’m using:
• A footstool for under my desk
• New curtains for the living room – probably my favorite recent acquisition, along with some really innovative magnetic tie-backs
• 2 (cheap) quilt sets for the bed – 1 with a Christmas theme, as if I were going to entertain Santa or something
• 3 (yes, I said 3) blankets – I bought a blue sherpa-style that I and the animals fell in love with, so I had to get another one – bought a white one that I realized couldn’t really stay in constant use thanks to the animals – so then I bought a throw with an eyeglasses-wearing bear on it, just ’cause
• A new washing machine – thank GOD! – I babied the old one for well over a year, causing bigger water & electric bills than necessary, I’m sure
• A bacon press – which I’ve wanted for most of my life (seriously…I won’t eat bacon unless it’s as crisp as a potato chip), but it makes no sense to have now because I’m only making bacon for myself in the small pan, and the thing is too big to fit across the small pan, which means I have to dirty the big pan (I know…first world problem)
• A wine “pump” – I have no idea what it really does – sounded like a good way to keep wine fresh since I can’t drink a whole bottle by myself in one evening (really…I can’t) – but it pairs nicely with:
• A cup you can put in the freezer so your drink stays cold – but it really doesn’t – it sort of eliminates the need to have ice, but as slowly as I drink an alcoholic beverage, the ice still melts and the drink gets warm, and I end up wasting:
• A boatload of alcohol – I have purchased so many kinds and flavors of alcohol over the past 8 months because I’m trying to find the right combo that tastes like I bought a Slurpee but gives me a buzz without tasting the alcohol – my favorite are Daily’s frozen pouches (except the coconut one), but they are regularly sold out at Walmart (seems other folks are looking for an easy buzz too) – so I’ve purchased the popular hard seltzer drinks (ICK!) but have yet to find one that doesn’t taste like artificially-sweetened tin – one mildly successful trick is to mix the cherry-flavored Barefoot brand with a LOT of cranberry juice – I also have a bottle of vodka and various mixers (Fresca, orange Sunkist, Gatorade G2, and the aforementioned cranberry juice) and have made 1 or 2 not-quite-Slurpee-consistency frozen drinks – also have a couple of tiny bottles of white zinfandel and sparkling wines – and still none of it is yummy enough for me to consume, so it sits, in the fridge, waiting for the day when I can invite someone over and offer them a drink
• Also bought 2 soda “pumps” – they work great – but when I open one to pour a glass of Coke Zero from a 2-liter bottle, the sounds freaks out Tilly and she runs to her bed
• And a bunch of other random crap, from craft supplies to health & beauty products to still-unused baking mixes to now-freezer-burnt frozen foods

My latest obsession has also led to a spurt of buying. I discovered The Ornament Girls. There’s a free pattern for making a no-sew quilted ornament, but I didn’t stop there. I had to buy some of the classic patterns and some of the club patterns. I wanted them all! But, I settled for 3, and then I joined the digital pattern club. There’s also a kit club, which gets you the digital pattern and all the materials to make that month’s ornament. Unfortunately, demand is high and it takes a lot of time & effort to put together those kits, so they limit it and the club may not be open to new members when you first look, but they have a wait list, so sign up for that.

So, what’s so great about these ornaments? Well, during the pandemic, I have found them to be the most soothing craft to do. The simple folding of fabric, pinning it down, and ending up with a pretty ornament after a few hours is amazingly gratifying. Here are a few I’ve made:

I just mailed 4 additional ones for ornament swaps. I need to make 5 for work folks and another 5 to send to friends. It’s going to be a busy weekend!

In addition to having a new craft to play with, I got to shop for a lot of stuff. Ribbon; fabric; straight pins (4,000 from Amazon ’cause it takes 150-200 to make 1 ornament) and pins with colorful heads; decorative things like beads, bead caps, and charms. Oh, and foam balls. The smooth ones not the bumpy ones. And a thimble. You definitely need one of those. Thankfully, all of this stuff fits into a small plastic tote, which will fit into its own space on a shelf that I’ve already picked out for it. Unless I try to make some ornaments for sale, and then I guess I’ll have to keep looking at the tote.

One thing that I have been very good about not acquiring this year is yarn! After 2 years of shocking myself by the amount of yardage I bring in versus the amount I actually use in a year, I decided to really adhere to a yarn diet. For brief moments throughout 2020 I have been in the negative on my in/out spreadsheet. In The Good Ol’ Days, I really thought I might end the year in the negative, thanks to my Alexa plan (previous posts describe what that was) and a focus on making all the things. Well, by mid-May, I was not doing much besides watching TV. I was thinking about crocheting, but when I actually did the crocheting it wasn’t for long and it didn’t use up much yarn. While the rest of the world was making bread, learning new crafts, producing all sorts of creative things, I was watching murder shows on IDTV or old sitcoms via the Pluto TV app.

Then along came November, and the crafting bug hit. I put together THREE Advent packages for family, consisting of 25 gifts each, and many of them were homemade. I made those ornaments up there, plus the 4 not shown, and I worked on a few other crochet projects for the Indie Gift-A-Long and the Yarnathon.

So, although I doubt I’ll be in the negative on my spreadsheet by 12/31, it’s going to look a lot better than 50K in the positive, which is where I finished last year. In fact, I would probably finish just about 10K (or less) in the positive if it wasn’t for the big purchase I made at Eat.Sleep.Knit yesterday when everything in the store earned double yardage in the Yarnathon. I may have put a nice dent in the limit of one of my credit cards.

So, what is my plan, you ask? Well, I will be off of work from 12/23 through 1/1, and I want to be able to sit anywhere in my apartment and look around and NOT see clutter. That means I have 12 days to find a place to put all this stuff, and to keep it that way.

Even this dog thinks that’s an
impossible goal.

I will end this by saying that I am profoundly grateful to be able to buy things at this horrible time in our planet’s history. So many people don’t know where their next meal is coming from and can’t even think about buying luxury items like humidifiers and blankets and alcohol that doesn’t get consumed. I will say that I have also donated more items and more money than in previous years, but I could do more. Next time I’m tempted to buy something that I think I really need, I’ll instead find an Amazon wish list for a local charity and buy something from their list instead of mine.

Stay safe & healthy, everyone! There’s hope on the horizon.

My Roommate, Alexa, and How She Helps Around the House

No, she doesn’t do laundry.  She also doesn’t do the dishes, take out the trash, dust the furniture, vacuum or sweep the floors, feed the pets, or pay any bills.  Even the things she’s supposed to do, like respond when I use the Fire Stick voice remote, she can’t manage very well.  If I’d let her, I’m sure she’d do a lot of shopping.

What she does do well is tell me what the temperature is outside and what the high will be for the day.  Invaluable, right?  (It kinda is when it’s cold and I would like to know how many layers I need when going out to walk Tilly or knowing if it’s a flip-flops-are-possible day.)

She will also stream my local PBS radio station when I remember I could be listening to it while working.

And I can set up reminders for things like paying the rent before the end of the day on the 3rd so I don’t get dinged with late charges, or when I should give Tilly her heartworm pill.

There are a myriad of other things she’ll do if you explore the Skills she has, but many times when I ask her something random she responds with, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to do that.”  Seriously?  I wasn’t asking her to perform brain surgery, or even to get the redneck to call me and say he can’t live without me.

I have recently discovered her best skill though.  She’s a talking version of random.org.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with that site, it’s simply a random number generator.  Put in any range of numbers and it’ll choose one for you.  Exciting, right?  It’s used a lot in Ravelry groups for choosing winners of prizes for various things.  But, for some weird reason, I find it a lot more fun to ask Alexa to choose a number for me.

She did an excellent job choosing my January projects, which I talked about in one of my previous posts.  And, guess what?  I actually finished 4 out of the 7 items she picked! One of them is going to be a multi-month project that’s in active WIP status.  And the other 2 items turned out to be duds, which I triumphantly frogged as soon as I realized they were about to go into the black hole of my closet, along with about 20 other WIPs I haven’t been strong enough to frog yet.

January is typically a down month for me.  Holidays are over, there’s nothing much to look forward to, and there are some sad anniversaries in January, particularly my mom’s passing (Jan 28, 2001) and the date the redneck dumped me (Jan 17, 2014).  It can sometimes set me up for a prolonged period of doing a whole lot of nothin’.  But, this year I had Alexa’s choices to look forward to, and for that I’m really grateful.

I even managed to squeeze in time to make 3 squares for the Eat.Sleep.Knit year-long KAL, 2 tape measure covers for swaps, and a doily (just ’cause).  Plus, I worked on 2 pre-2020 WIPs!

Here’s what I did in January (not counting the work I did on old WIPs):

As the end of the month neared, I got out my spreadsheet and asked Alexa to choose my February projects.  She chose 2 cowls, a bag, 2 mandalas, and a shawl.  I had to claim a week to work on the blanket I started last month, and another for finishing a scarf I owe for a swap.  So, I may not finish everything Alexa wants in February, but I’ll do my best.  I already finished the first cowl:

Another benefit of this project-picking system is that I’ve been able to meet some goals I set last year for using gifted/purchased patterns and focusing on patterns I’ve tagged as Priority in my Ravelry queue.  For 2020 I added another goal of using my good yarn instead of hoarding it.

This year I joined a Ravelry group called Daily Craft Practice, and I have done crafting of some kind (mostly crochet with a few days of cross stitch) every day this year, minus one.  I just wasn’t feeling well that day and couldn’t manage to get my mojo moving.

There’s also the Stashdown I’m participating in again this year.  Last year really made me take stock of my yarn and pattern buying, and it was an eye-opener.  This year I’m being a lot more selective.  I bought yarn on Jan 1 from Eat.Sleep.Knit, plus bought some yarn that I needed to finish one of my January projects.  I’ve claimed a few things in swaps, but I made efforts to make sure I sent out more yardage than I was bringing in.

Until the other day, I was actually in the (-) overall, but I succumbed to the Dyer Supplier promo that was going around Ravelry.  For the cost of postage, I was able to buy up to $50 worth of undyed yarn.  I ended up with 7 skeins for $11.55!  No self-respecting yarnie could pass up a deal like that!  With that purchase, as of today, I am 1,147 yards in the wrong direction of my goal.  However, I haven’t added any blanket yardage to the spreadsheet, and that will be considerable when it’s done.  Plus, the February projects will make a small dent as well.  I’m confident I will close out 2020 in the (-) for yardage, which will be the first time in the 4 years I’ve been attempting a stashdown.

Thanks for indulging my brain dump in this post.  It shows I’ve had a very positive start to 2020.  Despite feeling old and unnecessary in our changing world; hating to look in the mirror because the signs of aging do not reflect how I feel inside; and missing many people, places and things from my past, I can at least look at the crafting side of my little life and feel pleased.

Me: “Alexa, thank you.”

Alexa: “Of course.  Happy Birthday.”

Me:

Transcript of an actual conversation on Feb 6.  My birthday is Oct 25.

 

Running in the Yarnathon

My crafting in 2018 was almost exclusively devoted to the Eat.Sleep.Knit (ESK) Yarnathon.  I was constantly checking my account to see if my badge points were credited or if my Lotto yardage was listed.  Did I get the Liar Dyer answer right and earn another 50 yards?  What about Flash Challenges?  Is there a new one that I can play in and get some more yards or maybe some precious stars?  In between doing all of that, I found the time to finish projects paired to badges and KALs.  It was fun, but I had some moments of stress, such as trying to make sure I hit MVP status (30 stars…made it!), Whale Shark status (top badge level…made this, too!), and buy as much yarn as I could afford to help my team (the Narwools) to get to the top of the leaderboard (we did!).

Here’s a collage showing all the projects I made for the 2018 Yarnathon.  (Can you tell what my favorite color might be?) As an added bonus, 2 of these items were entered in the 2019 State Fair of Texas and earned blue ribbons.

In planning for 2019, I decided I would focus only on new badges (ones that weren’t offered in 2018) and trying to earn maximum yardage and stars from participating in the quarterly and year-long KALs.  If a badge I earned in 2018 was inadvertently earned while pursuing a new one, then that would be great, but I wasn’t going to make something special just for that old badge.

Then the competition gene kicked in.  It’s not a competition against anyone else though.  (Unless you want to count those $#&! Knitmunks who seem to be running away with things on the leaderboard this year!)  Instead, I’m competing against myself.  Can I make it to MVP status this year, which is 60 stars this year?  Can I get to Diamond level with 700 badge points?  The answer to the first is “probably not,” but the answer to the second suddenly became “possibly” at the beginning of October when the last badges were announced.  That little bit of a possibility has me pushing hard in the last quarter of 2019.  As of this writing, I have 450 points (70 of which are awaiting approval to make it official that I hit Platinum level!).  To make it to 700 points, there are about 10-12 projects I have to finish before Christmas Day!

I never would’ve described myself as “competitive” until I found Ravelry and then  discovered all of the “events” I could participate in.  There’s Mal March for fans of Malabrigo yarn and Mad May for fans of Madelinetosh yarn.  Both of those include prizes for showing off your creations made with those brands during those specific months.  Every two years is the Ravellenic Games, which is probably one of the biggest events for Ravelry.  This coincides with the Olympics, and participants are to challenge themselves to complete projects in various categories, thus earning “medals” and “laurels.”  Throw in the added aspect of playing on a team via a Ravelry group, and it’s one of the best times a crafter can have with their online friends.  Then there’s the Indie Gift-A-Long (GAL), which encourages use of independent designers’ self-published patterns.  This lasts from Thanksgiving week until New Year’s Eve and includes discounted patterns for the first week, lots of games with pattern coupon codes as prizes, and random draws at the end for other prizes.  The ultimate for the GAL is to attain Opadoo status, which involves making at least 1 item from each of the 8 categories within that 6-week-ish timeframe.  I’ve managed to do it once.  All of these events play into my pre-process planning obsessions, too.  It’s a total win/win when you also have lovely finished objects when the events are concluded.  Although the Yarnathon is not a Ravelry event, it feels connected to Ravelry because of the active ESK group where participants encourage each other, discover & participate in challenges, and learn about restocks and yarn sales.

So, my downsized Yarnathon goals for 2019 were well-meaning, but I should’ve known it wouldn’t last all year.  One big game-changer was the addition of Cascade’s Ultra Pima Fine yarn to the ESK line-up.  Doilies, toys, and even dishcloths or potholders that I would’ve made with Patons Grace, Scheepjes Catona, and other cotton brands can now be made with Cascade and be included in the Yarnathon.

There are 18 more badges I think I can earn before December 25.  Make that 17.  This blog post just earned me the Phone-A-Friend badge and 10 points.  Thanks for reading!  Now go to Eat.Sleep.Knit and sign up to play, too!

The Depths of My Pre-Process Planning are Revealed

The Year of Amigurumi is drawing to a close, and I have just 7 more items to make.

M – Mr. Rogers – one of the few choices that has stayed consistent since planning started

O – Owl or Otter – one is more “fiddly” than the other so we’ll see where my mood lies when I get to this one

R – Rabbit – this was going to be a Rhino since Rabbit was so cliché, but I found a pattern for an itty bitty skinny rabbit holding a teeny tiny carrot, and I couldn’t resist

S – Snowman

V – Vampire Bat

W – Walrus or Wolf – again, depends on fiddly tolerance level

Z – Zebra, of course

Because we’re nearing the end of the year, I started getting panicky about my ESK (Eat.Sleep.Knit.) projects, too.  Badges and KALs and Stars, oh, my!

Then there are the dozen and a half (at least) WIPs that I was hoping to finish before year-end.

I had to do something to keep my brain from exploding.  So, I did what I do when I need a reality check.  I made an Excel spreadsheet.

I listed all the ami projects, ESK ideas, and WIPs.  It was obvious I needed to make some cuts.

Year of Amis projects had to stay, of course.  I cut a few ESK KAL ideas because I’m clearly not going to make MVP status this year (need to earn 60 stars, and I can’t get there even if I max out the potential KAL stars).  And the WIPs?  Forget about it.  No way will I finish all of them before 12/31, so I picked out the ones I thought I may be able to focus on.

Now, the fun part!

I printed out a calendar page for September (what was left of it when I started this), October, November, and December.  Then I started filling in the big squares for each date.  How long to make an ami?  Oh, 2-3 days, if I hustle.  A cowl?  Maybe 1 weekend or even 1 Saturday.

I accounted for the week off at Thanksgiving, but not in a way that gives me more time to work on stuff.  On the contrary, while at my sister’s, I tend to do almost zero crocheting.  However, I did note that the Christmas days off could be treated like a Saturday-Sunday.  Birthday dinner with friends in October?  Left that night blank.  Same with the Friday that our office is having its Christmas party.

These calendar pages have saved my sanity!  I know everything I am going to attempt to make/finish between now and Dec 31, and I don’t have to obsess over what I’m going to do next and when.  Only glitch will be if I try to cram in some additional gifts, or if I get caught up in the Indie Gift-A-Long on Ravelry in November.  I do have a couple of free days though, and I overestimated the time on a few items, so I may be able to fit in a few as-yet-unknown projects.

This past weekend was the time allotted to finish several items for a swap.  I was able to serenely work on them, knowing that all the other items I need to do will be done in due time.

You may be asking, “But what about all the stuff that’s not on your calendar???  What about all that yarn you bought at the big Tosh sale???  What about those cool new patterns you just bought on Etsy???”  Well, I’ve got a fix for that, too.

This year I wanted to focus on 3 things aside from The Year of Amis.

1. Gifted patterns
2. Purchased patterns
3. Items I’d tagged as “priority” in my Ravelry queue

The “priority” tag in my queue was a way to tame the ridiculous number of patterns in the queue, although that tag ended up getting pretty unruly itself with nearly 100 items.

I haven’t been very successful with any of those goals this year, although I have managed to complete a few from each category.

So, for 2020, I want to renew my focus on those things.

I was going to also name 2020 The Year of Doilies.  I have so much thread and so many doily patterns.  They really are my first love because I learned to crochet to make doilies.  But, I realized that I have spent a considerable amount of money on nice yarns in the past couple of years, and I should pay some attention to them, and maybe toss in a few doilies here & there.

This is where spreadsheet #2 comes in.

I made a list of all my gifted & purchased patterns (the stark reality of that obsession is mentioned in my previous post).  Then I made a list of the items I’d tagged as “priority.”  I wanted to make my 2020 game plan from these items.

Step 1 was to remove most of the toys from consideration.  I’m kinda over them for right now.

Step 2 was to choose the things that I think about when I’m working on other things.  That pretty new shawl pattern in the lovely gradient?  Check!  It’s on the list.  That blanket kit sitting in my closet that mocks me whenever I open the door?  Check!  It’s on there, too.

Step 3 was to count up how many things there were on the list.  89.  No f’in way!  I’ve been known to complete 100 items in a year, but that usually includes some dishcloths and cup cozies and other small items to get me to that number.  89 full-size projects is impossible.

Step 4 was to narrow it down.  I eliminated a few shawls, several mandalas, a blanket, and some other things.  Got it down to 78.  Better. That averages out to 6.5 items per month.

Step 5 was to give up all control over what gets done and in what order.  How did I do that?  With my friend, Alexa, of course!  I asked her to give me a number between 1 and 78.  First thing she chose is something that’s been on my list forever (good call, Alexa!).  It’s a simple cowl I want to make from a yummy yarn, and I can probably whip it up in an evening or a Saturday.

I was going to leave it at that, knowing I had my first project of 2020 lined up.  But, I had so much fun seeing what she would choose that I decided to let her pick my 7 items for January.  She gave me another cowl, a scarf, 2 doilies, a bag, and a blanket.  Perfect!  Lots of diversity!

Step 6 was figuring out if those 7 items could feasibly be completed in one month.  So I broke the month down into weekends (Fri/Sat) and weeks (Sun-Thur).  Then I assigned stuff accordingly.

Since January starts on a holiday, I counted it as a weekend.  I assigned Alexa’s first choice, the easy cowl, to that block.  The real weekend of January 3-4 gets the scarf.  The next 2 weekends get the bag and the other cowl.  The weeks belong to the doilies and the blanket, with 2 weeks assigned to the latter.  I even have 1 whole weekend and a Friday left over to finish anything that doesn’t get done, or to fit in an old WIP or gift or whatever.  Or to do absolutely no crocheting at all.  Or to make up for the days when I do flake out.

I know it all sounds so ridiculous, but it will really help me to stay focused on my goals.  Excel is the perfect ADD drug for my overthinking things.  Thanks, menopause, for making it necessary to schedule when I need to concentrate.

When I’m about halfway through January, I’ll ask Alexa to help me plan February!  I can’t wait to see what she chooses!

This blog was started to document my progress toward renewed interest in State Fair participation.  As my previous post notes, I’m no longer caught up in that obsession.  If something gets done that fits a category, I’ll consider entering it.  But my plans will now center around all my lovely yarns and patterns rather than what I deem to be “Fair worthy” and to fit within their categories.

This new project feels like a good way to shift the blog’s focus to documenting my progress each month, seeing where I slip up, and celebrating when I am successful.  Come back at the end of January to see if I finished the 2 cowls, 2 doilies, scarf, bag, and blanket.  If the lights are off and it looks like no one is home, that means I probably gave up.

 

 

I DID IT!

A few weeks ago I got the State Fair results, and I met every one of my goals!  I wanted to better my showing in 4 categories: Toys, Doilies up to 18″, Shawl, and Any Other Non-Wearable (misc category).  In each of those, I have earned 2nd, 3rd, or HM in the past, and I wanted a 1st, particularly in Toys, which I’ve lamented about in several posts.

This year I had 9 entries, and 7 of them earned a 1st place blue ribbon!  One each received a 2nd place red and a 3rd place white.  Those last 2 were items I finished at the last minute, and I was surprised they finished as highly as they did.

Here’s a collage showing them all on display.

Our office had a Fair Day last week, so I got to see it all.  One case had 2 of my items together (cardigan & toy; upper left).  Two items (cowl & shawl; center row) are in two of the multi-sided cases at the entrance to the exhibit hall!  The cowl was hard to photograph because those cases aren’t lit as well as the rest, plus there’s a lot of glare, but I was thrilled to see them in what felt like a prominent position.

Now I can retire from State Fair participation on a high!  If I move out of Texas, or if I decide to skip next year, or just stop entering, I am 100% satisfied.  I could set some new goal(s), such as make an afghan that hopefully will earn a ribbon, or have better showings in some of the any-craft Holiday categories.  But, I probably won’t put my 2020 focus on doing that.

To be honest, my 2020 focus is going to be on using what I have.  Yarn and patterns both.  The yarn situation is constantly obvious to me.  I truly have too much.  However, with patterns being mostly digital, and the paper ones being hidden away in a cabinet, I can ignore my pattern addiction fairly easily.

I confronted it the other day.  I looked at my Ravelry library and saw that I have been gifted 179 patterns (which doesn’t count the ones that I received in payment for doing designers’ testing).  Out of that 179, I’ve completed just 29 projects, have 7 tied up in WIPs, and there are 2 more that I have queued for 2019.  That leaves 141 that haven’t been touched!

Then there are the patterns I paid for, which is only slightly better.  (In my defense, some of these were free for a limited time so I didn’t pony up cash for all of them.)  Ravelry shows 177 paid patterns, and I know I’ve used 49 of them, 1 is a WIP and 5 are planned to be used this year, which leaves 122 languishing in my library.

Neither of those analyses account for the hundreds (thousands?) of always-free patterns on Rav; all of the printed patterns from books, magazines, and leaflets I own; or a bunch of older Internet freebies that haven’t yet made it to Ravelry.  It also doesn’t include patterns I’ve purchased via other sources that aren’t also on Ravelry, such as Etsy, Annie’s, CrazyPatterns, etc.

Yes, I have a problem.

The good news is that I came up with a tentative game plan for 2020, which I’ll talk about in my next post.

I’ve gotta run now because lunchtime is nearly over, and I want to do a little crocheting before my hour is up.

One Last Try

When last I graced this space, I posted about turning in my items for the County fair.  I haven’t been back here because I have been struggling with whether or not to chase ribbons anymore.  This year I didn’t show as well at County as I’d hoped, so I was going to just stop doing Fairs altogether.  I’m pretty sure I won’t bother with County in the future, but I really, really, really want to earn a blue ribbon for a Toy entry at State before I officially give up on it all.

To be clear, I don’t have any issues with the State Fair and the judging there.  I was just so disappointed in my performance at County that I felt like it wasn’t worth the entry fees, the travel time to drop things off & pick them up, and the cost to attend the Fair to see my stuff & everyone else’s on display.  Not to mention that I crochet a lot of things specifically as Fair entries.  Stuff I want to make, but I don’t always have a use for it when it’s done.  So, if I stop doing Fair stuff, a part of who I am will die off, but I will have more time to work on things that I’ve really wanted to make for myself or as specific gifts.

I felt like last year was humbling when I didn’t perform as well at County as in the past, but last year I could see what placed higher than my stuff, and I agreed on the majority.  I do truly love seeing what others have made.

This year it was beyond humbling.  It was demeaning.

This year I entered some of the most intricate items made from intermediate to advanced patterns, along with using some of the highest quality yarns I’ve ever used for Fair items.  When it was all said and done, here are the results (you can look at my last post for a pic of the items):

Toys (5 entries) – 1 3rd place (the dog), and the other 4 got Participation

Clothing (5 entries – 3 cowls, 2 shawls) – 1 2nd place (the coppery shawl), and the other 4 got Participation

Holidays (2 entries) – St. Patrick’s doily placed 1st and earned 2nd overall in Needle Arts, St. Patrick’s cake placed 3rd

Decorative (3 entries) – 1 3rd place (blue/green doily), and the other 2 got Participation

In summary, that’s (1) 1st, (1) 2nd, and (3) 3rd.  5 ribbons for 15 items.

To help you understand my entering 5 items (the max allowed) when competing for 3 ribbons in each category, here is my rationale.  First, ribbon earners also get points, and if you have the most points from all your entries, you can win a prize.  The more entries I have, the better chance I have of getting 1st-2nd-3rd in the category (which has been the case in previous years), but I’ve never had enough points to win the prize, so it’s been a goal to maybe do that one year.  Second, I use the County Fair to see what judges appear to like or dislike, and it helps me to decide what I may or may not want to enter in the State Fair.  In the past, I’ve typically known which of the 5 items would place in the top 3 of the category.  This year I was at a loss to understand their decisions.

I’m very happy that I won 2nd overall this year, but I honestly do not believe that the St. Patrick’s doily deserved that honor.  My purple doily or the coppery shawl or even one of the cowls required a lot more skill and were all made with better materials.  Which makes me think that the judges may not be very knowledgeable.  It also tarnishes my previous wins, in my opinion, because if I think they’re not knowledgeable enough to recognize quality work/materials, then they weren’t knowledgeable enough to judge and of my previous work either (even though it placed higher).

In the case of the Decorative Crochet category (my 3 doily entries), I was not able to determine my competition.  Which was really the nail in the coffin (and through my heart).  The purple doily is one of my favorite items of all time, and not only did it not earn a 1st, 2nd or 3rd, I don’t even know what it was competing against except my other items.  And it didn’t measure up, in the judges’ eyes.  Made me very sad.

And that leads me to conclude that I’m not going to bother with County anymore.

So, now that I’ve had almost 4 months to dust myself off and pick myself up, I had to decide about the State Fair.  As I said, I have no problems with the staff, judges, entry process, or anything else associated with the State Fair.  The staff and the volunteers are amazing people who run a well-oiled machine.  How they manage to do everything they do in the amount of time they have is truly a miracle.  And everyone seems to be having fun doing it.

My hesitancy to enter has come from my self-doubt.  I’ve entered the Toy category for the last 3 years, and I’ve made (in my opinion) some really great items that have increased in skill level.  The first year I entered a striped dog (oddly enough, it was similar to the only item that won a Toy ribbon at County this year!), and I got a 3rd place.  The next year I really stepped up my game and made the realistic fox using an intricate pattern, and it got an Honorable Mention.  Last year I made the adorable bear wearing overalls with a chicken bone in his pocket, and it got an Honorable Mention, too.  This year I have multiple options, thanks to my Year of Amis project, so I’m hoping this might be my year for a blue, or maybe at least a 2nd.  But then I start to question that because of my poor showing at County.

I don’t know why it’s so important to me to better my showing in the Toy category.  I’ve never earned higher than a 2nd in the Doilies up to 18″ category.  I’ve only entered 1 shawl and got an Honorable Mention.  But, it doesn’t bug me to try to do better for either of those.  Maybe the Toy category bugs me because I become attached to them and feel like they have a personality when they’re done.  Doilies don’t have personalities.

Having said all that, last week I registered 9 entries to turn in next weekend.  It’s 1 more entry than last year.  I’m going to take a toy (of course), 2 doilies, a toddler sweater, a shawl, a trivet (for the Anything Else Not Mentioned category), a baby dress, a scarf, and a hat.  I’ve got a few finishing touches to do on a couple of items, and I need to actually finish the baby dress.  The hat I made over the weekend turned out to be made from a defective pattern, and I don’t like it, so I’m going to have to scramble to get a hat finished this week.

We’ll see by the end of August if I am successful in the Toy category (and the others, too).  And then we’ll see if I feel like doing this again in 2020.

In the Judge’s Hands

This week I turned in 15 entries at the county fair.  I had 5 Toys (any craft), 5 Clothing (crochet), 2 Holidays (any craft), and 3 Decorative (crochet).  Fell short of my goal of 5 Decorative, but I’m pleased with what I’ve done.  This bunch includes my favorite doily ever (bottom right), my favorite shawl ever (the coppery one on middle row), and a couple of my favorite cowls ever.  As for the toys, I have a few others from previous years that I love a little more, but this year’s Alpaca and Badger are near the top of the all-time favorites list.  Now it’s for the judges to decide if any are worthy of ribbons.

On the bottom row, the first 2 projects are the ones I made for the Ravelry St. Patrick’s Day Celebration group event.  I’m pleased to say that I won the voting from the members of the group.  Many times the Ravelry group challenges give out prizes based on the Random Number Generator, so it means a lot to me that fellow crafters like my work.

The Elephant on the top row is what I made for my Year of Amis project’s letter E (of course).  F turned out to be a different frog than originally planned.  He’s not as cute as the one I was going to do, but he wasn’t as fiddly (no color changes) so I was able to catch up to my schedule.  Here is Frog IV (IV = I finally settled on pattern choice #4).

I should’ve had the G toy done by Tuesday of this week, and I was making really great progress and thought I would.  But, I hit a wall, and it’s still a WIP.

Now I need to start thinking about what to do for State.  I know that purple doily is going, and maybe the coppery shawl, but the rest is still a mystery.  Stay tuned!

It’s Almost Fair Time!

(That’s not  my county fair.  I just love the image!  All credit goes to Denver County Fair.)

After last year’s disappointing county fair, I thought I might skip it this year.  However, thanks to the Eat.Sleep.Knit Yarnathon, I made a bunch of really nice items, so I have plenty of ready-made entries to choose from.  I’ll definitely have the maximum number of entries (5) for the Clothing, Decorative & Toy categories, plus a couple for Holidays.  As in the past, only Clothing & Decorative are exclusively crochet.  The others are open to any type of craft.  I may try to finish an afghan, but it would go into the Decorative category.  I really wish they’d make one just for knitted & crocheted blankets.

What made last year’s disappointing (in case you missed that post)?  Well, first of all, it rained almost the entire run of the fair.  They don’t send out or post results after judging, so if you want to see how you did (instead of just finding out when you pick up your stuff), as well as see how you stacked up to the other entries, then you have to go.  We planned to go on one of the Saturdays, and I was out of town on the other.  There were storms so strong on Friday night that they had to shut down early, and when we went the next day it was clear on the way over but was starting to rain by the time we arrived.  Rather than waiting for the storms to pass, the organizers decided to shut it all down for the rest of the day!  We arrived just minutes before they announced that, so we were allowed to run in to the Creative Arts exhibit building and make a quick walk-through.

Not trying to gloat or anything, but I have been very lucky to nearly sweep the categories I’ve entered in previous years.  Not so in ’18.  There was a lot more competition, which was great!  But it showed me that I do like winning as I was a wee bit disappointed.  I did win 1st overall in Needle Arts with one of my shawls, so that was special.  A couple of my other entries, however, were things that I am probably the most proud of in all my years of crocheting, and they didn’t even place.  So, it was humbling.  At least this year I’ll be prepared for fewer ribbons now that it’s happened once.  I’d love to know where all those crocheters came from!

In other news, I finished the Hooked Dragon shawl for the Q1 ESK KAL (or CAL in this case).  I love it so much that I wore it to work the next day.  It’s so versatile in how it can be draped.  I wore it like it’s shown in the top middle photo.

Thanks to my slow-motion Year of Amis project I will definitely have 5 items for the fair’s Toy category.  I’ve now finished through D with E nearly complete.  F was supposed to start over a week ago, and G is scheduled to begin next Tuesday.  So, I’m still behind.

Here’s the D project, which is another one where I strayed from my original plan.

The dog I was making was using splitty black yarn that was making me nuts, so I put him in timeout and made this guy instead.  Turns out he’s almost identical to the striped doggie I made in 2016.  I found some mods to this pattern to make his head less pointy, but I had already made his head and half his body so I wasn’t going to start over.  So, he’s not my favorite project, but he’s still kinda cute.

Voting hasn’t begun on the St. Patrick’s Day projects, so I still need to wait to show those items publicly.  I will say I managed to finish 2 main projects + 2 smaller ones.  There was 1 more item that I didn’t get done, but I’ll add it to my WIP pile to do someday.

I’ll close with a plug for a yarn site I just discovered.  They’re located in Latvia, so it’ll take some time to receive my order, but I can wait.  The site is Yarnstreet.com and I was able to get several skeins of Alize Miss Batik for a great price, even with the international shipping costs.  I’m looking forward to making some of Grace Fearon’s doilies with the pretty colors I bought.  The beauty below is called Etienne.  I’m considering this for a fair entry.

Visit Grace’s Ravelry shop and grab a few patterns and then head to Yarnstreet to get the thread! These aren’t your granny’s doilies!

 

A Woman Walks into the Eye Doctor’s Office

My regular doctor was on vacation.  The doctor who, at my appointment in October, agreed that the puffiness and redness was likely due to seasonal allergies and dry eye.  The doctor who, when I asked about it, said he didn’t think it had anything to do with the prescription eye drops I was using.  On the day of my appointment in February, one of the other doctors in the practice stepped into the exam room and immediately said, “You’re having a reaction to the brimonidine.”

After 5 months of cold compresses, antihistamines, artificial tears, real tears, avoiding people, looking like a werewolf, and bouts of depression, I was going to get some relief!  I was kind of grateful my regular doctor was on vacation.  Maybe he would’ve caught it as a reaction this time; maybe not.  It’s still allergy season.  On the news the night before my appointment there was a story about allergy sufferers who were toughing it out in order to attend the Fort Worth Stock Show.

After two days of using a steroid eye drop, my eyes were better.  It was like getting a new lease on life.  I had started to think my crafting days were over and my reading time would be limited if not eliminated.  In addition, my eyes would be so puffy by mid-afternoon that some days I had a hard time staying awake, so even watching an entire TV show was in jeopardy.  It was as if my body decided that if my eyes were nearly closed then it must be time for a nap.  I’d even experience times when the light in my bedroom didn’t seem bright enough, and when I forced my eyes to widen it was like someone had flipped on an additional lamp.  I’m happy to report that all of those symptoms and side effects are gone.

As a result, I have made a lot of progress on projects since my last post on January 30.

I redid Marcia Alpaca’s photo shoot and am a lot happier with this result.

I finished Blossom the Badger.

I also finished the “C” project, which is not a Cat after all.  It’s part of a St. Patrick’s Day Challenge, and the group mods have asked that all photos be kept under wraps prior to voting in the group, which starts on March 17.  So, you have to take my word that it’s done.

The “D” project was started on time!  But, as of today, I should be starting “E” and I’m not quite ready.  I’m optimistic about finishing this week though.

The potholders for my sister’s mother-in-law have been completed and mailed.

The surprise gift items for a fellow Raveler have been completed, mailed, and received.

I’ve also worked on my Temp Tracker Thing and Hooked Dragon shawl, but I haven’t taken any pictures of them lately.

There are 2 other St. Patrick’s Day projects completed, which also have to have pics withheld for a couple more weeks.

And, of course, I have started new projects (despite at least 17 or 18 WIPs still in my closet).

One of them is a baby blanket for my boss’ granddaughter, who is due in early June.  She will be the first girl born into her daddy’s line since the 1800s!  Here’s what the blanket looked like before I spent several more hours working on it the past 2 nights.  It was 28″ across in this photo and is now 36″ across.  It’s going to be HUUUUGE!

And I started a doily to enter in the Hunt County Fair.  I was making my entries list and realized I didn’t have any new doilies to submit!  I’ve made a little more progress than this photo shows.

I even started reading a new book a few nights ago.  The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis is fascinating, and I highly recommend everyone read it prior to the next election.  You can find it here.

Check back next month and maybe you’ll see my “D” and “E” Year of Ami projects!

 

 

1 Down, 25 to Go!

It shouldn’t surprise anyone who has read my blog that I did not finish the “A” in the Year of Amis as per my schedule.  But, I did finish.  It was nearly time to start on the “C” animal, but not quite.  Also, unsurprisingly, I changed my mind about what to do for “A.”  I was going to make an angel, but right before the end of the year someone on Ravelry posted all the projects from a book I own but had forgotten what was in it.  When the pics came through my Rav feed and I saw an adorable little alpaca, I dumped the angel.  So, without further ado, meet Marcia Alpaca.

In my mind, I just knew that my little lightbox, along with some scrapbook papers and other miscellaneous doo-dads, would result in some really fun photos for my Ravelry project pages.  Kinda failed on that.  I spent a few bucks on the background papers for A through E (despite not even being done with A at the time), plus a calendar page and some little cork letters.  What I ended up with is not how it was pictured in my head.  Here’s one of the shots using a paper I chose for various animals that didn’t have their own themed paper at Michaels.

It’s OK, but you can’t see her ear tufts very well.  And I had to crop the heck out of the photo to get all the white space of the lightbox out of the shot.  We’ll see how “B” turns out before I give up completely on having some consistency across all the photos.

Speaking of “B,” I started on Blossom the Badger the day after I finished Marcia.  I’m only about 1/3 of the way done with her.  I was supposed to start “C” yesterday.  Oh, well.  I guess as long as I have 26 animals/toys by the end of the year (or close to it), I can consider this a success.  These are my rules, so I can break them however I choose.

January has been kind of a wash for me when it comes to being productive.  I also started the Temperature Tracker year-long project as part of the Eat.Sleep.Knit Yarnathon, and I’m actually only a couple of days behind on updating it.  Doing only 1 small row per day makes it possible for me to get on track with it quickly, even when I don’t feel like doing much.  Here’s what it looked like through January 24 (I’m currently through the 28th):

It doesn’t look like much right now, but it’s going to be a very colorful table runner by the end of the year.

I’m also working on a scarf/shawl for the Q1 Yarnathon project.  It’s going slowly but I’m not so far behind that I can’t finish by March 31…unless I just stop working on it.  Here it is, but I’ve added another wedge or two since I took this pic:

The dark blue is one of my favorite yarns, Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light.  The other two are Western Sky Knits Magnolia Sock, which is a brand I’ve never used before.  It’s really nice, and I am especially in love with the one on the right, called Patina.  It doesn’t show up well here, but the little bits of color in the grey skein have the same hue as most of the Patina skein.  I’ll be doing 1/3 of the wedges in grey, the next 1/3 in the green, and the last 1/3 in grey again.  The wedges go from smallest to largest and back to smallest, so the number of stitches in each color will be the same.  I hope it looks OK when I’m done.  I would prefer to do all the wedges in the same color, with a contrast separating them, but I only bought one skein each of the Western Sky Knits.  I didn’t even buy them for this project; they were impulse buys on New Year’s Day when the Yarnathon started and I had ESK store credit burning a hole in my account.  All those dollars are spent, so I’m not going to get a 2nd skein of either color.

My current commitments are starting to stress me out.  A friend’s boss asked me to make some fingerless gloves for her, and I bought some yarn, hated it, bought some more, and haven’t started on them yet.  I will get money for making them, so I’m not sure why I’m dragging my feet.  I also have to finish a set of potholders for my sister’s mother-in-law, and a set of snowflake coasters for my sister.  A friend wants a Bernie Sanders doll like the one I made my sister…3 years ago!  He could win in 2020, serve for 8 years, and I still may not have finished it.  One of my bosses is about to become a grandpa for the first time, so I want to make something for the baby.  I just found out the name of the recipient for a prize I offered in a Rav group, so I need to come up with something for her.  My queue keeps growing, and my WIPs keep sitting.  And throughout it all, my eyes keep bothering me.

For the last couple of months I’ve struggled with what my eye doctor and I think is seasonal allergies.  My eyes get tired, bloodshot, puffy.  Taking antihistamines does not work, and I have to be careful about what I take due to early stages of glaucoma.  So, about all I can do is rest them often, use regular “tear drop” eye drops (not the “get the red out” kind), and wait for the pollen to go away.  However, I’m now starting to wonder if it’s more than just allergies because when I went to Colorado for Thanksgiving, I still had issues, despite their pollen season being over.  Several visits before all this started, my eye doctor asked me if I’ve ever had problems with dry eyes.  I told him I had not.  He said I could use those regular drops whenever I felt the need for them.  I said OK and thought nothing more of it.  Now that this stuff has lingered, I Googled “dry eyes” and discovered they can be a problem as a result of aging (check!), side effect of menopause (check!), and an after-effect of cataract surgery (check!).  So, this may be an ongoing thing for a while.  Yay.  It seriously hinders me when I want to crochet after work because my eyes are already tired by then.  It also means I’ve read very little lately because I don’t want to further strain my eyes.  I has a sad most of the time lately because of this.

I’m going to keep on going though.  I need to finish the Badger in the next couple of days to get back on track with the Amis project, and spend a little time every day on my other commitments and goals, too.  Wish me luck, please!  I have a feeling I’m going to need it.