I have my crafty eye on this lopi poncho (afterall, what else does one do with a mountain of authentic Icelandic lopi but make an authentic Icelandic garment), so I had to teach myself stranded colourwork. I did. Thinking a phone sock to match my wallet would be cute, I crafted this little sleeve . . . and then tossed it out. "Major ugly" as my mother would say.

Knitting success: $0, learning how to do some colourwork
Knitting failure: $.57 in wasted yarn

Catnip Ravioli

The frayed fleece catnip ravioli I made for Fattie.

 Investigating this new thing.

 And she loves it. 

Sometimes I feel like I'm not a very good mom for my cat. I know, I know . . . there are layers of crazy at work in this. But still. I should brush her more and be nicer to her. We used to have a standing 10pm date for a brushing and some TV watching and I've been neglecting that. I know she loves her track and ball toy that she once had and now is lost, but I cheaped out of buying one since it was $9 or $13 at PetSmart. Instead I went home and made her a catnip ravioli with some scrap fleece. I think she likes it . . . but I'm still thinking of a made in China plastic bit of assuaging of the guilts.

I can't imagine what real parenting is like. I so couldn't hack it . . .

Drugs not hugs: $0, fleece from my stash, catnip from Fattie's.

Simplification Sunday: Week Twenty Two

A ha! The mood struck . . . possibly because I'm an anxious procrastinating nervous mess over a conference paper, but I went through my wardrobe with a fine toothed comb and dropped off this mountain of stuff at Goodwill. Gonzo! In there was a thrift store dress that I bought in 2007 and had never worn, a purse with the same story, and some other stuff that just wasn't working for me anymore. I also threw out some stuff that just needed to go to the great beyond and gave my sister a t-shirt I bought in 2009 and promptly shrunk. Dunno if I was assuming I would also at some point shrink?

In all of my destashing and purging and housecleaning I am not missing one single thing I've gotten rid of. Even more proudly, when I dropped this off at Goodwill I took a quick spin through the store, fawned over a few things, but ultimately left empty handed. I really don't need anything.

I backslid. Fell off the wagon. Not hard. Just a bit. I am crafting a most excellent scrap blanket from all my cool coloured yarns (see basket on floor). I ran out of bright green halfway through and thought my craft would look super weird if all the bright green just disappeared at the 30" mark.

So I went to a yarn store to procure . . . and accidentally bought this one sad leftover on sale remnant skein of Boboli multicoloured yarn. I didn't mean it. I just always wanted a ball of yarn like this. :(

Onward.

Desimplifying . . . $9.97 at Knit-o-matic

Simplification Sunday: Week Twenty One

This was a pretty good week for Simplifying! And I don't mind my "no buying stuff" policy at all. So far so good. 

I sorted through all my fabric and gave one enormous tote bag full of all the stuff I'll never use to Goodwill. Set out a freshly emptied Rubbermaid bin by the side of the road. Now all my fabric is in two Rubbermaid bins. That's it. Two!

I put a "Summer Vacation" notice on a blog I author for a group I'm involved with. My term on the committee is up in early December, so I'm thinking that might actually be the end of that. I did it for three years and have no real energy left for the project. 

I killed my bulky filing system. I went through all this effort and expense about a year ago to set it up, then never used it. So I gave the file folders and hangers to work, the big box to my sister, and tossed the few things I need to keep in my junk drawer. Lesson learned - don't fight nature. You are not a file folder alphabetized person, Erin, you may as well own it. 

Oh and one of the banks I used has shut down some of their financial services altogether, so I got a letter indicating that my financial life now had one less thing in it. So that was actually kinda a nice simplifying decision made by someone else.

New Life Plan

Postdoc at University of Helsinki. Wouldn't that be marvellous? Weekends in Estonia. Weekdays evenings drooling over Marimekko products. Learn a bit of Finnish. Finally become the moguls master I was born to me.

Did I mention the Marimkko? 

Käly Dress you're mine!

My aunt gave me a heap of unfinished projects and miscelaneous fabrics a while back. I was sorting through it a few weeks ago for my simplifying resolution and these two jersey prints - one solid teal and one striped teal - just yelped "scarf!!!" to me.

Last night I whipped up a super cozy scarf and today I'm basking in the feeling of being enormously pleased with myself creating something lovely and stylish for free. I wonder how many other yet-to-be-made treasures are waiting in my bins of fabric?

Circle scarf: $0

Simplification Sunday: Week Twenty

Oh Goodwill. How you tempt me so. I scored this cute birdie for $3 and it was the perfect addition to my reworked living room wall. I am so amazed at how much better you can feel about your home just by reworking what you've already got! I'll post a photo of the wall tomorrow and then you can come over for tea, eh? 

This week in simplifying: 

- I cleaned out my Google Docs (I have such an allergy to digital clutter)

- and promised not to buy anything unless it is food, clothes, or something I need to finish a project (e.g., ruby coloured thread, scotchtape) until at least June 1 (my birthday!). Time to break some bad habits (I'm looking at you Goodwill)

I'm doing well with my simplifying, but I think I need to step it up a notch and get some more stuff out of my house and finish up some more projects. 

The cup looks like Thailand and the dish like Japan, but really I travelled only a few hundred clicks to find these sweet little treasures. Oh how I love them.

Cup: $.75 at Goodwill
Dish: $3 at Japanese store in Niagara on the Lake
Travel objects: Almost as nice as travel itself

Oh how can I stop filling my house with stuff when there are treasures like this in the world?

Candleholders: $1.51 each at Goodwill

Simplification Sunday: Week Nineteen

This Sunday post is a Wednesday post because I had a packed weekend and then two even more full days at work meetings. Whoumphf is the onomatopoeia I feel. And whoa. I spelled that right on the first try.

This week in simplifying I:

- got rid of all the old, yucky mats on the landing for our shoes and took my mountain of junk to Goodwill
- cancelled all my weekend plans and took a serious mental health day bike trip through Niagara region. It felt better than I could possibly describe to just be outside, be by myself, and get some fresh air. Oh dear, how I wish I could have more nature-alone time in my life.

This week I have a bit more down time and am hoping to finish up a few craft projects and get some school work done.