in which she pokes her head back up for a moment

Hey.  Here I am.
I hate January.
Too much rain and clouds and dreariness.
I tend to just want to hibernate.

I found the most amusing entertainment... a ball of Noro Kureyon yarn. I really wish I had taken pictures of everything that I made it into. First there was a stripey hat - cute, but not really the right size. Next, I tried a tea cozy. It would've fit my tea pot, mug, and a plate of cookies. Tooooo big! Besides, I really wanted to *wear* that yarn. Then I remembered a hat pattern that I love - I had made a whole bunch of them for Christmas presents. I started it, and knit and knit and knit until I ran out of yarn. I had a bit of Kureyon left from another project, only it was red... the main yarn was mostly green and blue-grey. I thought 'what the heck' and added it in. And as I kept knitting, it started reminding me of something. Something not entirely pleasant. Well, at least not for putting on my head. It looked like a baboon butt. Rrrriiiiipppppp. Try again. So I pasted the red yarn randomly into the other yarn ball, and started knitting stripes, alternating using both ends of the yarn. Muuuuch better!


And in other news, my yarn ball for the swap has made its way safely to Sarah in the UK, so I can post the pictures here now.



I knew, from reading her blog, that there was a particular yarn that she'd been hoping to find whilst on a visit to the Seattle area recently; so I ordered a ball of it for her.  I stuffed it with a whole assortment of stationery stuff, and Burt's Bees things, and chocolate, and a sweet little knitted hedgehog pincushion; and tied it all up in a red ribbon and a pearly letter 'S'.

True confessions time: I wrapped everything up, and then realized that I had, yet again, forgotten to take pictures; so I unrolled the yarn, took the pictures, and then rolled it all up again. Yep.

Anyhow, it's safely there, and I'm so excited to get mine soon, and I'd do this swap again in a heartbeat! It has definitely brightened my January!

lucky me!

A few weeks ago I stumbled across (yet) another inspiring blog... An artful Life.

Shona is a collage/mixed media artist, who has written a book that I can hardly wait to get my hands on - The Artistic Mother: A Practical Guide to Fitting Creativity into Your Busy Life. And as you can see above, she makes very beautiful things! I was lucky enough to win that beautiful altered photo butterfly, which is now hanging on my wall.

Go, sign up to follow her blog - she's giving something away every Saturday until March, as a count-down to her book release. Plus she's very inspiring. And she has cute kids :)

sneak peak

A while back, I signed up for a magic yarn ball swap, hosted by t does wool.

What you do is to pick out a whole bunch of cool little goodies, and a ball of yarn, and wrap them all up together to make a magical goodie-filled yarn ball (hence the name...) and send them off to their intended recipient, who may either unwind the entire thing on the spot, or slowly knit it out, depending on their personality type.

I got paired up with Sarah, and sent off her lumpy bumpy rattly yarn ball this morning. Fingers crossed it gets to her quickly and safely... and that she likes all the things I wrapped up! I'll post my pics of what's inside after she's got it - no need to spoil the surprise!

late night ponderings

I made a throwaway comment last night...




"I'm stronger than I look."



...and remembered it, as I was lying in bed, and I wondered to myself, what if that were really true?

What if...

And what if I rephrased and expanded that statement?

I'm stronger than I think I am.

I'm more creative than I give myself credit for.

Honestly, I'm afraid to go down that road.
What would my life look like if I really believed that those things were true?

Road trip

Well, I've made it through the first full week of January without actually accomplishing anything. Many thoughts have percolated through my head. I'm contemplating what seems to be the newest New Year's trend - the word-of-the-year. I haven't yet found the word that I want to encapsulate what I want in my life. They all seem incomplete. I will keep pondering.

I took a wee overnight road trip with the husband this week. He had to head up-country to do some work, and I tagged along for fun. The drive up was simply gorgeous. I miss living in snow country.

I got to see the smallest house in the whole world...













... and I got my first-ever letter from Ellie:

"Mom, can you please not forget me."

unresolved as of yet

So I've been pondering the turn of the year, and the propensity for making resolutions. I've never really done that before. It's always seemed like a futile effort to provide motivation. Like dangling an unobtainable carrot.

I guess I've always assumed that resolutions had to be huge. Like losing 50 pounds by next week. Or never yelling at my kids. ever. again. Or doing an hour of bible reading and praying every day.

And then the guilt would be just too too much when, not if, I failed. Because I would. A resolution is not enough to make me perfect. So why, I thought, should I set myself up for that?

But then on Friday I read Tsh's post about goal setting; and yesterday a friend mentioned that he sees resolutions as a form of prayer, and told a story about how his conscious effort to seek out the things he had resolved upon had actually made a huge difference in his business and his life.

I think I'm seeing things differently now. I'm still pondering it. I'll probably go through Tsh's list of questions and think about what goals I want to set. There's definitely things that I want in my life, and I've never really been intentional about getting them.

It's the paradox between wanting a better life versus being thankful for what you have. I've been more focused on the latter, I think. And perhaps I need a bit more balance.