Life has a funny way of getting in my way. I look at the things everyone around me accomplishes in a day and I’m in awe. How do you do it? And then you add kids to the mix and I’m blown away. I basically manage to get myself to work and home and once in awhile I cook dinner. I make sure I watch General Hospital every day, and usually knit a bit while I’m at it. Otherwise, I have no idea what happens to my day. I guess I shouldn’t say that because I do karate 2 nights a weeks and I work at the yarn store on Wednesday nights, but what about all the other things I like to do? What about that running I’ve been meaning to start and the spinning I’ve neglected? Those sewing patterns I have plans for? One good thing about summer is that most of the tv shows I watch are in reruns, so maybe if I don’t dedicate myself quite so much to watching tv, I can find the time to do a few of the things on my To Do List. Maybe.

In an attempt to spin a bit more, I took my spindle and some pretty pink roving to my office.

I thought I might be able to find 5 or 10 minutes a day to spin a little on the spindle. And the added benefit is that it’s right there and so springy and pretty, maybe I’ll be inspired. I also picked out some bright roving from the stash to spin on my wheel. The alpaca just isn’t working for me, so I think I’m going to try something else and see how it works.

I always enjoy my time spent spinning, but I just need to make time for it. Sigh, the story of my life.

I’ve decided to try running again. I really need to add some cardio exercise to my karate workouts - which I should be doing more than I do. I found a good basic plan on Runner’s World. Or at least it looks good to my uneducated eye. I think I’ll try to find a 5K in the area in a month or so to give me some motivation to stick with it. I know my dog would like it if I’d take him for a run a couple of times a week. And I would like it if I could lose a few inches - so I just need to figure out how to translate that unhappiness with my body to stick-to-itness (and I totally just made up that word). Maybe yaiAnn can give some pointers?? She just finished the Brazilian Ironman - talk about sticking to it…

And to continue with the “basics” theme, I’ve been reading In Defense of Food and I’m finding it very interesting. I’ll keep you posted as I work my way through the book. A few friends have read this book and had great things to say, and it is an easy read even though I’ve been reading it before I go to sleep and I keep falling asleep while reading. I don’t think that is a reflection on the interest of the book, rather just my inability to stay awake lately.

It’s Friday afternoon and I’m headed home for the weekend. Hopefully it will be really productive and I’ll feel better about how much I get done (or don’t get done) by this time next week. Have a great weekend of your own.

Steph

I’m an out of practice blogger. I have been putting off writing this post because I haven’t taken pictures of the current sweater in progress and now I’ve decided that I’m just lazy and a picture of a large gray blob of stockinette really isn’t that exciting anyway. So, I’m working on Manly Maze sweater from No Sheep For You for Travis.

Ravelry Link

I started this sweater in February and then got tired of it and put it in the knitting basket. A couple of weeks ago I picked it back up and decided that I needed to finish it before I started the Corset Tank Top by Annie Modesitt, which is going to be my summer knitting project. So, now I’m about 1/2 done with the first sleeve and it’s killing me. I have the body of the sweater to shlep around as I turn the sleeve to knit it and I’m just not amused. The good thing is that it’s endless, mindless stockinette in the round, which works for tv watching. I think the real problem is that I want to start some new socks and I’m not letting myself until I finish this sweater. I bought Francie and have decided to use the Brooke’s Farm sock yarn I bought ages ago.

Have you all used the Harmony wood dpns from Knit Picks? What do you think of them? I was thinking about buying a couple of sets to see what they’re like, but if you have an opinion, I’d love to hear it.

Other than dreaming of socks and hating sleeves, I’m going to try to sew a top this week. It’s a cute little peasant top from Hot Patterns, but the directions are confusing and so I’m going to have one of the ladies I work with help me figure out what the heck they’re talking about. Like why the heck I would sew the seams with the wrong sides together. Makes no sense to me.

Have a great day and hope for warm weather for me - it’s still only in the 50’s and we have a really cold wind today. I imagine the wind chill is in the 30’s. Spring really needs to get here soon!

Steph

Spring in the Rockies, and Wyoming in particular, really sucks. It’s this time of year that I really wish I lived somewhere else. It’s still winter here while everyone else is enjoying spring. Yesterday morning looked like this:

And 24 hours later - this morning - this is what it looked like:

Big difference, and while it looks nice in todays pictures, it was still cold. And the really good news is that we’re supposed to get another inch of snow tonight, so I’m sure tomorrow morning will look like yesterday. It’s a vicious cycle. If I didn’t have to be a somewhat productive member of society, I’d just stay home and craft and drink until July when our 4 weeks of summer finally show up.

Happy Thursday.
Steph

You know I love to bake. The downside of baking is having the baked goods in the house. And eating said baked goods! Travis is always good for helping to eat them, but especially after last week in Indianapolis (what is with conferences? I think they feed you lots so you don’t fall asleep!) I should be cutting back and watching my calorie intake. Yeah, so I went ahead and made cinnamon rolls…

Clearly I hate myself. Ok, not really, but talk about calories. I guess the only way to enjoy the treats and still be able to fit into my clothes is to spend some extra time at the gym. Ah, the price I pay for sugar!

This recipe is from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. It’s a simple recipe that in the grand scheme of things isn’t that fattening. It has 1/3 cup of butter, uses buttermilk, and the filling is cinnamon and sugar without additional butter. The buttermilk makes for a nice tender dough, plus adds a bit to the flavor. The other thing you could do to cut down on the inches to the hips is cut down on the frosting, but that doesn’t work around here. Travis actually wishes there was more frosting! My teeth hurt just thinking about it.

I didn’t do any crafting this weekend aside from cutting out the pieces for a top. A summer top. And since it’s getting ready to snow here, I think I have enough time to work on it this weekend. Can someone in the know please let me know when we might expect summer to show up in Wyoming? Assuming summer will arrive eventually, I also want to work on the second skirt. And then I need to start thinking about a quilt for my brother and his girlfriend. So many crafting projects, and life keeps getting in the way. This week marks the beginning of summer hours at the University - 7:30 to 4:30, which sucks in the morning, but makes for a little extra time in the evenings. Here’s hoping I can fit some crafting into that time.

Steph

Now all I need is summer to get here. It’s in the 30s today and I’m just ready for spring. Although today is graduation at the University, so I shouldn’t be surprised - the weather sucks every year.

I spent all last week in Indianapolis at a conference on fundraising. I learned a lot, but came home yesterday exhausted. I guess that’s the price I pay for living in a hotel for 5 days. Before I left I managed to make myself a new summer skirt - mostly because I wanted some cotton skirts for summer but I refuse to pay the crazy prices for them (and I wanted to take at least one on my trip to Indy). Anyway, I have a pattern that I’ve used before, so I just whipped up another one with some cotton fabric from the quilt shop.

I didn’t line this skirt, so I used french seams to finish it.

And I put an invisible zipper in rather than the regular zipper suggested by the pattern.

This pattern is really simple and I like how it fits so I think I’ll make at least one more skirt for the summer. After that I’m going to have to try something new.

Otherwise I haven’t done a lot of crafting. I didn’t knit anything while I was in Indianapolis. I just went to class, ate dinner, and vegged in my room - oh, there was a tiny bit of shopping too. Of course. I’m feeling kind of blah about my knitting right now, but I think we’re going to start a knitting group at work, so I think that will help me get back into the swing of things. I have a couple of projects that I really like, but I just don’t seem to be making time to work on them. All in good time I guess.

Tomorrow we’re taking my mom to brunch for Mother’s Day, which is always fun. And she’s decided she wants to make a couple of skirts but wants me to help her. I’m not sure I’m qualified for that, but we’ll see. It might go alright or it could be a complete disaster. My other plans for the weekend include baking some cinnamon rolls (what’s the consensus on pictures? yes or no?), doing laundry, and maybe sewing a simple summer top that I have cut out. We’ll see how productive I am tomorrow.

Steph