I’ve moved one more time, this time into my own place with just the kids. I LOVE living on my own. This is the first time in my whole life I’ve had my own place and it’s wonderful. I’ve got a walk-in closet (!) and a fireplace in my new apartment!

Things did not work out with the roommate. Let’s just say that I do not have time in my life for toxic crazy people and leave it at that.

I have been crafting on and off (mostly off) for the past year and a half. Unfortunately I am terrible at remembering to take pictures. This leads me to one of my new years resolutions: take more pictures. Of the kids, the things I make, my friends and myself. I want to remember.

Another one of my resolutions is to be happy and to try to make other people happy. Sounds overly simple, maybe, but hear me out. When things are going good, I tend to stress about the next bad thing that might happen, which makes me unhappy. I’m going to try not to do that anymore. And I’m going to try and recognize when I am unhappy and take steps to eliminate what is making me unhappy. I don’t do that enough and it’s a good time to start.

I’ve got lots of pictures of what I’ve gotten done lately and will share those soon. I made a slipcover for my couch, which was a first for me. And so much Christmas knitting. And I started crocheting a gorgeous blanket I can’t wait to show you.

My daughter isn’t quite old enough to start kindergarten, but she’s starting to learn to read. Hooked on phonics is a genius system!

I am quitting my part-time job to spend more time with my kids. I still have my full-time job and I still enjoy it very much. Having only the one job means a little less money coming in, but I think I’ll be way less tired all the time, so hopefully less stressed out, too.

Things are working out great with my roommate still. We help each other out a lot. I feel lucky to have met her and I really don’t know how well this last year would have gone for me if I hadn’t met her.

“Do you even wear shawls?” you might ask. No, no I don’t. But they’re ever so pretty and I appreciate the challenge. And guess what? I’ll be able to knit 2 beautiful shawls from only 3 skeins of knit picks gloss lace. That’s a lot of knitting for not very much money. And it’s absorbing knitting that keeps me paying attention. The only part I don’t like (I think) is blocking. This might be knitting blasphemy, but I have never blocked a piece of knitting before. Most (I’m lying. All.) of my first projects were knit in acrylic yarn.

The only reason I think I don’t like blocking is that I seem to be putting off that particular part of knitting. That’s why I have two shawls completed that don’t look nearly as pretty as they could. Would have been three, if I hadn’t ran out of yarn on my first attempted shawl. I knit the entire skein, watching and watching the skein getting smaller and smaller. I was convinced that I would have just enough. I was wrong. So I unraveled the whole, nearly-completed shawl. It didn’t even hurt my feelings.  I just shrugged my shoulders and balled the yarn. That’s why I’m sure I’m a process knitter. I care more about the actual knitting part than having the product at the end. Not to say that I don’t love have someone complimenting me on something and then looking amazed when I tell them I made it.

I’ve moved out of my beautiful house and in with a roommate. I love my new place, but I do miss my giant sewing room. My roommate is great and she loves my kids. I’m mostly unpacked and we’re even starting to decorate. The only thing is, I seem to be having knitters block.

I think I just need to decide on what I want to knit, and unearth my needles and yarn. They’re still in boxes. The last boxes to be unpacked.

All of these facts come together to make my bus rides very productive of late. I’m close to finishing 3 purses, and four potholders.

The purses I will probably sell, and the potholders will be my housewarming present to myself when it’s time for me to move.  The purses won’t be finished for a while, though, because I want to line them and all my fabric and sewing stuff is already packed.

As such, I will be moving soon and thus my sewing room is all packed up and ready to go. The bad news for you, though, is that that means I can’t sew or knit anything when all my fabric and yarn is in boxes.

Sorry about that. I guess this post is an explanation as to why I haven’t written in ages, and why writing will be a little sparse for a while still.

They called me back this morning and asked if I would consider taking a casual position as they really wanted me even if I couldn’t do the hours they originally wanted. So I have two jobs now! Oh, and I had to call that third job this morning to let them know I wouldn’t be coming to work there after all.  When it rains it pours, right? I am so happy to have these jobs, they are the ones I wanted most of all the ones I applied to.

So what are these jobs? The full-time one is working one-on-one with a cognitively challenged young man as a support person. Taking the bus with him to work, helping him at work and taking the bus home again. I met him and his parents at the second interview and the whole family seem wonderful. Really sweet people.

The casual position is also a support person for cognitively challenged individuals, this time in a group home setting.

They both sound really rewarding and I’m excited to get started. Thanks to all my twitter peeps who sent good luck wishes!

She took about half of them and we put prices on them together. It felt so amazing!

If you’re local, you can head down to see some of my things at Sew Dandee on Osborne st.!

The yarn is Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red. The needles are 5 mm.