Unpack Already

We live in an apartment, which means even though we have three bedrooms, space is still tight. Unlike a house, which usually has an actual dining room and living room as well as some sort of play or family room, apartments (unless you truly pay through the nose) don't. So the third bedroom is our computer/storage/workspace room and has been home to an absurd amount of boxes for the last year. I've picking away at them slowly, and we've carved a space for two desks, but that isn't a tremendous amount of progress for twelve months. Monday I decided, subconsciously, to remedy this situation. My motivation: my husband needs some documents of an official sort to renew his DL. So, after two days of searching, sorting and carting away the rubbish, no appropriate documents have been found.

My house is a righteous mess. For instance, in my search I found nine years worth of shredding to get done. I am not kidding, and my ex who is responsible for four of those years worth of junk, kept every bleeding receipt. I think I'm about two thirds of the way through, and there's a (second) thirty-gallon garbage bag full waiting to go out. There is also a small vacuum that no longer works, a several unusable children's toys ready to head out as well. It's, well, without belaboring the details, a freakin' nasty untidy mess. Anybody want to help?

The upside to this is that once all the sorting has been done and the two and half years of comics and bill filing done, and the storage boxes and various things put away, the computer room will be a much pleasanter place to be. Certainly not an extra guest bedroom like I'd hope - we have too much crap for that - but much, much better.

I guess this is my bonus for finally deciding which road to take this summer. My family and my home are still where it's at for me. The yarn business isn't a hobby - I can't stand the idea that someone would start something like this as a hobby and put their customer service second place because they aren't building a long-term business - but my own business is still not so important that my child (and future children) should get second place either.

The place is a mess, but I'm taking the day off. Dishes and laundry is it for me, and I'm still hoping I can get the kid out of the house for a walk at the Nature Park. Yesterday was stunningly beautiful, but somehow I prefer the shade and the ability to wear wool.

As an added bonus for you, if you could actually stand to read all the way through this boring post, is that I'd like you to have free shipping on any orders you place before Saturday morning. There are about three days left to get my yarn at a discount, and I love to get the shop down to zero items if at all possible. Just mention "unpacked" in the buyer's notes.

This is "Claire" by the way. Named after a friend who inspired a really gorgeous custom colorway, I've decided this one is a keeper. I have two of them rattling around, and it would look fantastic with "Margeaux" knit up as something stripey or as Spot Check from the new handknit sock book.

Take care and happy knitting!

Only Merino....

Several weeks back, my husband finally blew through the pair of Dream In Color socks I'd made for him in Cocoa Kiss. The skein was bought before their production went into massive quantities, so the colors were really spectacular and subtle. Don't get me wrong, I really like the DIC colors still, but they're a bit more beat-you-over-the-head now, in my humble opinion. Of course I adore Smooshy for its softness and the yardage is unbeatable, but I'm beginning to wonder about making plain vanilla socks with it. I have a few strategies I'm going to try - afterthought heel, two-color stranded socks to double thickness, maybe even the dreaded reinforcement thread - and we'll see how long that makes a pair last. The point of my going on and on about DIC Smooshy is that I've finally clued in to wool-only sock yarns - they either burn through too fast or they felt (on my feet). So, I pledged to myself that I was off 100% sock yarns in fingering weight for both my shop and my stash.

And then this happened.

And this.

The problem is that Merino, especially the Louet base (which these either are, or they're near enough as to be pointlessly alike), takes dye in such a spectacular way that, well, coveting things is already in my nature, and I suck at self-control. We've talked about the omnipresence of Louet, right? Well, I'm starting to not care. It's almost worth not having an original base yarn (boy, I'm stuck up today) to be able to play with color on that gorgeous Merino medium.

By the way, the Madelinetosh isn't for me. I swear.

Let's Move This Offline

Okay, one last self-indulgent update and then its back to using Outlook.

...Did I forget to mention filing taxes?...
- Federal is easy, but I don't like the state tax thing, so I put it off. Done now. Until next year, nemesis.

...make list of "needs" for Sock Summit Booth...
- We reached a decision two days ago, and since then I'm so relieved that I know I'm making the right decision. I'm not going to bother with Sock Summit. Yes, I'll go and see, but I don't want to take on the burdens that come with this behemoth event. I would probably have received some good exposure from being a vendor there, but Pop Culture Zoo will be covering some major events this summer and we're planning to get pregnant again. Who wants the burden of morning sickness on top of negotiating a stressful weekend.

2. Start socks for Mother's Day gift. Size 2's and vanilla basic sock. Should only take a few days to finish these.
- Plain socks on US 2.5 needles, and Shepherd Sock Sport in Black Purl. Going to be pretty.

5. Scrub the pink out of the bathtub before it gets unsightly.
- Did one better: cleaned the whole bathroom.

9. Start packing up April birthday gifts to be sent out.
- one down, two to go.

16. Post uberlate review of Fast & Furious.
- nevermind. it's silly.

Sweet Child That I Adore

We have our days, just like everyone else, but he is by far the cutest little person I've ever seen. And I don't care how biased I am.

A friend said to me on the phone in response to being one the fence about procreating a second time: "Just because your child has had a bad day doesn't mean another one doesn't deserve life." Brilliant.

See How The List Diminished, and Then Grew

6. Pay some bills, enter some receipts, reconcile, then freak out because we spend too much money.
- that went exactly as I expected it to.

11. Respond to emails.
- seriously didn't need to keep those retailers and customers waiting any longer.

12. Get new cards going. Involves a stupid number of phone calls.
- handed off to hubby. Thank goodness.

4. Vacuum. The whole house.
- the house looks totally sweet. (vacuuming also means tidying all the crud like random toys and dishes so that I can operate the vacuum without shredding it.)

8. Dye some yarn. Site needs Twilight Garden and backup Rainbow Black. Plus a skein or two of the PCZ colorway and some more Crushed Berries. All space-dyed, which I detest. A skein of Phoenix?
- wound up dyeing some custom orders and about 10 others for the site.

14. Organize yarn stash.
- ended up with fewer bins. okay?

Things to add:

...Finish the thumb on that one fingerless mitten from Christmas that I Rav-ed as finished about three months ago...
...Send out emails for CFF walk fund raising...
...Customize my CFF Walk page...
...Did I forget to mention filing taxes?...
...Tomato starts: find, transplant...
...re-pot smaller Bird of Paradise...
...make list of "needs" for Sock Summit Booth...

I'm certain that anybody whose been reading this blog over the last week is probably tired of my lists, but I am finding this a very motivational experiment. Maybe another week, I'm thinking.

Now To Update The List

I'm enjoying this social experiment. It feels like publicly announcing my list has been a bit of motivation. Here are the things that still need doing, with a few additions:

1. Draft interview for CFF fundraiser walk - want to help by posting something on PCZ.
2. Start socks for Mother's Day gift. Size 2's and vanilla basic sock. Should only take a few days to finish these.
3. Resend letter to J. The one I didn't send was very quickly outdated. Joy of snail trail mail and hand-written letters.
4. Vacuum. The whole house.
5. Scrub the pink out of the bathtub before it gets unsightly.
6. Pay some bills, enter some receipts, reconcile, then freak out because we spend too much money.
7. Get zoo pics from sister. My son and my niece were totally cute, holding hands and being sweet. They looked like they could be siblings.
8. Dye some yarn. Site needs Twilight Garden and backup Rainbow Black. Plus a skein or two of the PCZ colorway and some more Crushed Berries. All space-dyed, which I detest. A skein of Phoenix?
9. Start packing up April birthday gifts to be sent out.
10. Write review of Disney discs for PCZ before another deadline completely blows us by.
11. Respond to emails.
12. Get new cards going. Involves a stupid number of phone calls.
13. Prioritize cleaning up computer room. To file? To shred? Just tidy?
14. Organize yarn stash.
15. Bathe and brush dog.
16. Post uberlate review of Fast & Furious.

Things Finished On Tuesday and Wednesday

9. Scrip order. By Tuesday morning.
- that was always going to have to get done, but it was nice to see it in the perspective of my overall to-do list.

12. Transplant pea starts and get some compost into the other pots (for tomatoes!).
- the peas are done, dude. The rest of the compost can wait until I can find starts. I think I may need to fashion something to help the peas climb, though.


1. Write up Scrip Order Processor job description. (it's a co-op preschool thing which has to be done by Wednesday)
- I'm sure I suck because I'm always late getting these things sorted.

21. Darn hubby's DIC socks. Which begs the question: Tear out current WIP DIC socks?
- well, that's a bust. I can't seem to do it right, so I'm tossing this pair. I can always knit more. I also tore out the others, which was quite a relief.

20. Get more color photos up on BTFS Facebook page.
- There are quite a few colors up there, now to get some folks looking at them...

Addendum by Shelby: "Breeeeeeathe".
- yes, I will remember to take some deep breaths. That's what knitting is for, yeah? But I do breathe, regularly. Maybe a little aggressively, but it's still air in my lungs.

Things Finished On Monday

6. Choose pattern and yarn for Q2 challenge at Loopy Ewe.
- okay, that was easy: Houdini by Cat Bordhi in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Blackberry colorway. I've never done a toe-up construction, and I'm highly interested in the toe-to-heel with a steek construction.

7. Make a dent in financial paperwork for Black Trillium.
- keeping track of sales and expenses is not fun, but so necessary. Got further than I thought I would.

13. Clean and hang hummingbird feeder.
- ran a little vinegar through the thing since it's been sitting all winter. Filled it and put it out and within fifteen minutes the first bird found his way to it. Awesome.

10. Send out BTFS orders.
- tagged, bagged, taped, sent. whew! (I heart the post office and am deeply grateful that they're open until 6:30pm)

17. Grocery shopping.
- two stores, two hours. with the guys. Big score: Black Gold Compost for pea starts.

Later on, I'm sure I'll get 'round to at least one more thing. Yay me.

Monday: Listed

In publishing this list I hope to keep track of enough things to actually get a few done.

1. Write up Scrip Order Processor job description. (it's a co-op preschool thing which has to be done by Wednesday)
2. Draft interview for CFF fundraiser walk - want to help by posting something on PCZ.
3. Start socks for Mother's Day gift. Size 2's and vanilla basic sock. Should only take a few days to finish these.
4. Resend letter to J. The one I didn't send was very quickly outdated. Joy of snail trail mail and hand-written letters.
5. Vacuum. The whole house.
6. Choose pattern and yarn for Q2 challenge at Loopy Ewe.
7. Make a dent in financial paperwork for Black Trillium. (this is the one I keep avoiding) With taxes finished, the rest should be cake, right?

Okay, seven is enough, right? Let's see what I forgot to remember come tomorrow.

Afternoon addendum:

8. Scrub the pink out of the bathtub before it gets unsightly.
9. Scrip order. By Tuesday morning.
10. Send out BTFS orders.
11. Pay some bills, enter some receipts, reconcile, then freak out because we spend too much money.
12. Transplant pea starts and get some compost into the other pots (for tomatoes!).
13. Clean and hang hummingbird feeder.

Odds and ends I should squeeze in there somewhere...

14. Get zoo pics from sister. My son and my niece were totally cute, holding hands and being sweet. They looked like they could be siblings.
15. Dye some yarn. Site needs Twilight Garden and backup Rainbow Black. Plus a skein or two of the PCZ colorway and some more Crushed Berries. All space-dyed, which I detest.
16. Start packing up April birthday gifts to be sent out.
17. Grocery shopping.
18. Write review of Disney discs for PCZ before another deadline completely blows us by.
19. Respond to emails.
20. Get more color photos up on BTFS Facebook page...

Alright, this list has gotten out of hand...

21. Darn hubby's DIC socks. Which begs the question: Tear out current WIP DIC socks?