So This Is How It Ends

Ah, here we are at the end of another year. Normally I would use this opportunity to reflect on the past years achievements and ponder what might come in next one, but not this time. I just don't feel like it. Let me go ahead and back up though and do the weekend recap and you'll see why.

Friday was another great, on task day. I got a few more pieces remade and listed. I even started Saturday morning by finishing up one that I hadn't quite wrapped the day before. I've been making steady enough progress on the crochet afghan that I picked up some more yarn for it as well. I also picked up some new tatting scissors as I have dulled up yet another pair. They are so small and relatively cheap that I never bother sharpening them. It is amazing how happy a new pair of scissors can make me reminding me that I have reached a very odd point in my life. The rest of Saturday I worked on some gift projects and I felt pretty productive.

So Sunday is where things went a bit wrong. The morning was perfectly normal. I finished one gift and started another. We even managed to take down all the Christmas stuff because the cats had been threatening to take it down for us if we didn't get to it soon. I was tired so I sat down for a minute and that is when it started...that sick feeling in my throat. You see the husband has been sick for a week and the rest of us have been unscathed until yesterday when the cold hit like a brick.  Lucky for me all I had planned for the rest of the day was knitting mitts. This pair was knit for the husband, though after he spent much of the day mocking my fall into sickness, he didn't really deserve them.

So that brings us to this morning where I just don't feel up to reflection nor looking ahead. In fact I kinda feel like going back to bed, but we all know that's not going to happen. I do hope that everyone out there had a good year and I wish a prosperous new one to you all as well. Maybe in the coming days I'll get some reflection and prediction in, but for now I'll just be thankful that it's just a cold.

Boring

I thought about not writing at all this morning since yesterday was so awfully boring, but I just couldn't do it. I've been writing here Monday through Friday for...I guess it'll be five years in March. That's a fairly well established routine there. Sure there have been a few breaks in those years, but mostly they were because I was out of town before I acquired a smart phone, so a boring day is just not enough of an excuse to break with the routine.

I did stay on task yesterday and finished three things off the list that needed remaking. There are now plenty of things crossed off, but there are plenty more to go including some masks. I'm not getting round to those anytime soon though. I also managed a few more rows on my crochet afghan in the evening, but I fear I'm beginning to show some wear from the constant working. My hands were quite achy just before bed. The last time that happened was when I was trying to take care of the lost fashion show package and a bulk order at the same time a couple of years ago. I know it just means I need to take a bit of a break with my hands, but my hands like to be busy all the time and it's hard to let them stay idle for any length of time.

So today it's back to the list to try to cross a few more things off before we start a new year. None of the things I asked the Universe for yesterday were delivered aside from a little motivation. I think I was being too demanding, so today I'll just request a nice productive day and less achy hands. I'd also like a nice relaxing weekend with a little something interesting thrown in for an entertaining blog post on Monday. I think that will do for now.

Back To Work

When days go exactly as I predict in my early morning blog post, I don't assume I planned well, I assume that I'm getting prophetic, which is of course ridiculous. It does make me want to write that someone will make me rich and famous today though. Whatever explanation one chooses to describe it, I did indeed stall the morning away followed by getting to work as I said I would. I still took a few crochet breaks, but I'm now committed to the queue.

At this point, I think it's close to a couple dozen pieces on the list and unfortunately quite a few of them are larger projects like masks and collar chokers so no matter how committed I am or how fast I work, each day will only see the creation of one or two pieces. This has the side effect of making me extremely boring, not only during my blog post, but also during the day. When I'm in work mode I tend to get very quiet online. On a normal day, the kids snap me out of it, but they received very time consuming gifts and I'm pretty sure they couldn't care less what I'm up to right now. The other effect of remaking the slow to make pieces is that getting so little done leaves me with no sense of accomplishment. This turns into a lack of motivation eventually, so I must work fast before that sets in. So, dear Universe, I ask for those pleasant surprises I mentioned, energy and motivation to work and while you're at it a nice wrap up to the year for everyone that could use it.

Idle Hands

Well, that was quite a day and I remain exhausted, sleepy kitty picture for emphasis. The morning was nice and fairly peaceful after the kids opened presents, they played quietly. I crocheted and cleaned, put out chairs and set tables and waited. When the family arrived they brought chaos with them. The house got loud and warm and generally full of joy. Then they were gone and I spent the next two hours cleaning, doing dishes, laundry and generally undoing everything I had spent the morning doing. I know I've said this before, but I miss the way holidays felt as a kid, you know when someone else did all the work and I just opened presents and ate. Those were the days.

Obviously I got no tatting done, didn't even try. I was however pleasantly surprised at how well my tatted gifts went over with the kids and the few others that received it. I guess I won't feel so bad about the handmade gifts next year. I am glad that all that is done though. I can now ride out the next week or two of the kids vacation getting things made for the shop and taking care of all the other start of the year projects I've been blathering on about. Or I could just get really lazy and get nothing done. Right now, at this moment I'm leaning toward the nothing, but we all know how long I can stay idle...not very. It is much more likely that today will be stalling followed by a streak of working that lasts days so I might as well get on with it.

Holiday

Happy Tuesday, Merry Christmas and I think Kwanzaa starts tomorrow, so happy to that as well. I suppose the point is, there is a lot of celebrating going on this time of year as we try to get through the winter with friends and family and look forward to the sun as the days slowly get longer. I can't wait for the days to get longer and I hope you're enjoying any time you're spending with those family and friends and if you're not, there's always the internet to entertain you.

So let's see, I got very little done yesterday as my brother is staying with us and adds an extra bit of crazy to household. He enjoys being uncle jungle gym and it gets loud around here. I did finish cleaning up the house for today and I even picked up my tatting corner a bit. It gets mightily out of hand with rolls of thread, random doodads and discarded bits that I can't quite throw away. I finished a week of Wunderkammer blog posts, crocheted a bit on the afghan and I made myself another pair of the knitted mitts I mentioned yesterday.

Usually I go with gray or black for nearly everything I make, but the purple matches my hair and I thought that might be nice for another pop of color. I did this pair a little different than the pattern, because I can't seem to leave well enough alone. I added a couple of stitches at the garter end and a couple on the other end as well to make them a bit longer and I love them like this. The pattern I used was brought on etsy here if you're interested in them. It was a really quick knit even though I kept starting over when I made a mistake. In fact I'm kind of hoping that more family or friends will request a pair so I can keep making them for a while.

The family will be over this evening for a non traditional holiday dinner and once our kids wake up and tear through their gifts, the house will ring with the sounds of video games and other playful noises. I plan on crocheting much of the day away until the meal when the house is bound to get beyond chaotic with 8 kids, pie and gifts. Tomorrow will be for recovery.