There are six new crochet patterns available on Amazon and Smashwords. They will be available more places in a couple of days. These have been done patterns but I just haven’t had time to go through all the steps for publishing. I hope you like them.
Thread Bookmarks Need a small gift? Looking for items to make for a craft fair? Try these eight easy bookmarks. Made with crochet cotton, they work up quick allowing you to build inventory. Amazon Smashwords Braided Scarf For the beginner, this pattern is easy to assemble while offering a stunning end product. The chain group weaves into a braided look for this extra long scarf. Amazon Smashwords
Spiral Hat Round and round you go, working two colors in tandem. This styling hat is warm and fun. Amazon Smashwords Tree Hanging Made with single crochet, this wall hanging adds a seasonal touch to any room. Use the copper (as shown) for a fall flare, or green for a summer flare. Use white or silver for a winter look and spring, simply add some small light green French knots. Amazon Smashwords
Triangular Doily Light and different, this doily works up nicely to provide a beautiful decoration for any room. Worked in crochet cotton size 10, this is durable as well as decorative. Amazon Smashwords Triple Triangle Afghan Worked with triple crochets, this works up in under twelve hours. The pattern is easy for the beginner and makes a beautiful blanket for your home or as a gift. Amazon Smashwords
The family got through mom’s possessions. We got them divided up, organized and sent off to the appropriate sibling or charity. This includes the difficult task of dividing up her jewelry. Saturday was a very long and emotional day.
Now I’m working on gifts and projects. I had five student worker gifts to make – can’t say what at this point. Since Sunday I’ve gotten four of them done. I’m hoping to make the last one tonight. I’ll take pictures of them as they are new patterns and then ask my husband to please wrap them.
This is the rest of my immediate needs for crocheting:
3 baby bibs – moved up because the publication changed the date for the issue they’re going in
gift for my daughter’s boyfriend – again can’t say
blanket for the woman who organized my blog post
slipper socks for my niece
scarf and hat set for a client
I think these are the immediate needs. I am still working on a blanket for my niece which I may submit to the publication – I may be too late for the issue. I have to check since they rearranged dates of issues.
I’m hoping to get all of these done within the two weeks. After I get these done, I’m going to think about making things for the markets I’m hoping to participate in. However, I have a lot of writing things to get done as well.
I’m sure I’m going to be bouncing back and forth between tasks. It’s all a balancing act for me to keep moving forward in both of these areas.
I’ve been feeling too scattered so I wrote up a to do list for my writing. I need to break down some of the tasks into pieces so I can check them off but I’m hoping with the list, I’ll be able to focus a little better and spend less time bouncing around and more time accomplishing things.
Work is winding down for the end of the semester so this means I can think about more things. I’ve also got a long eleven days off over the holidays. I’m looking forward to this as I’ll actually have about three days in the house alone. I’m hoping those will be productive days for writing. On the days where I’m sharing the house with other people I’ll work on things like posting patterns on Ravelry or marketing as that is easier to be interrupted than writing.
I’m also hoping to start going through some of the photo albums of my mothers. This is going to be a task as there are dozens of them if not hundreds. Without a doubt there are thousands of pictures to look through, determine if they are good enough to scan, and pick the ones the family will be interested in. My mother was a prolific photographer who snapped shots of everything. Collectively, we’ve already decided we can’t keep them all and there isn’t time to scan them all. Still it’s a big job and will take time. I’m hoping to take a few hours on one of my days off and work through a number of them.
After I get done with the pictures, the next thing will be the slides. This is going to be time consuming as well. Both my parents took a lot of pictures. This means I’ve got lots of slides to go through from the beginning of their marriage to about the 70s (I think). This will be slow going as well.
All of this should keep me very busy through the end of the year. I’m hoping to rest a bit during my eleven days off and come back to my day job a little less stressed. I’m also hoping to get quite a bit of work done while I’m off.
It’s been a busy week. I’ve gotten some of my writing stuff done but mostly spent time with family. My daughters came to visit. We played this new game called Ticket to Ride. It was fun. On the surface it was simple – pick tickets and build your trains from one station to the next. Then as you get playing you realize there are strategies involved. For instance, when to pick more tickets? How many trains do you have to build your trains? We’ve spent the most time playing this game and having a great time.
This weekend will be about getting the errands done. The nice thing is both Vicki and I are off so we will be doing a lot of the errands tomorrow. On Saturday we will be going to Ikea and a phone place to look at phones for mom – one for the hearing impaired.
I still have edits to put on the computer and editing to do on a manuscript. I’m crossing my fingers to get part of that done yet.
I have gotten 70 of the 100 coasters made for the event in November. I’m hoping by the end of the weekend I’ll finish them. Then I have to work on the raffle gift basket I need to send with it. I also need to consider submissions for crochet projects. I’ve got one done so I’m going to try to take pictures of it and send them to the publisher. My priorities there are coasters, shawl (for submission), gift raffle item, and then other projects for submission.
I’m also prepping for a blog tour. Royal Undercover is going on a tour of blogs. This will be my first one. I’m very excited about it.
Last night I wrote until 2 am. You would think I would be able to sleep in. Nope, eyes popped open early and while I attempted to sleep some more, I only dozed. I was still up by 7:30. I was determined to get things done today.
I tackled my desk. I organized paperwork by filing a bunch and stacking in a pile more. This pile I have to figure out a solution for. I’m handling all of my mother’s paperwork so I need to figure out where I’ll keep it. I have it in my top drawer in the file cabinet next to me but the drawer is full. It’s difficult to put more in there. I’m going to have to figure out where to go with it so it remains convenient.
I paid her bills, ordered items she needs, and sent a text to my sisters to ask them to check her stock when they visit. I’ve been a bad (ish?) daughter as I haven’t visited her. It started six weeks ago with laryngitis, shifted to a kidney stone (not contagious but I was in too much pain), flu and now upper respiratory crud. I’m toxic and am not visiting my mother.
I worked on my bills, sales info and facebook for writing discussions on this new group I’m on. I wrote two book reviews and sent them to the person who requested them. I wrote a blog posting for Witches & Pagans. I updated my sales spreadsheet.
My daughter made lunch so I had lunch with Ken and Vicki. It was nice to put my feet up and kick back for an hour though my eyes thought they should close and my brain thought it should sleep. I made it stay awake. I put the dirty clothes down the laundry chute so Vicki can do laundry.
Then I tackled posting eight crochet patterns on Ravelry. I’m writing this blog and then I get to go back to the story I was working on last night until 2 am. I’m hoping the flow continues as it was working nicely.
My list got handled! I got a lot done and as I read this I think I deserve a nap… nap or writing… hmmm I’ll have to see if the writing goes well.
Now I still have a long list of crocheting, writing, editing, and other things to get done. I’m trying to savor the moment. I got to throw out two post its!
Tomorrow will be prep for breakfast and lunches and then back to my list – I hope. I’m going to try to take it easy tomorrow and see what mischief I get up to.
It’s Sunday night and I’m headed to my recliner. It’s been a busy weekend. Yesterday my middle daughter, her godmother and I went shopping. I drove, they shopped, I crocheted. I wouldn’t have minded going into the bookstores they went to but my scooter has been sporadic for operating. When we got home, I finished the afghan I was working on. Vicki took pictures for me so I can get the pattern ready for publishing. I have to think of a name for it. I’m not happy with any of t
he names I’ve come up with. After I finished it, she and I talked about the submission guidelines I looked up for a couple of publications. I made a list so she pulled yarn to see if I could use her yarn to make something to fit the categories which she would like. We found a couple. I started one yesterday and am about halfway through with it. I’m hoping to finish the first steps of it today. Once I finish it, I’ll snap a few pictures of it and send it to the editor. If they accept it, it gets sent off to them for photographing and then it comes back to me.
I’ll work up the pattern but until after it’s published, I can’t publish the pattern myself. I need to look at my list of things to do submissions for poetry and articles as well. I have a number of them to work through. Hopefully I can make some good progress. I have so many projects right now, it’s crazy but at the same time I love it. I love having a list, working on it, and being able to cross them off my list.
I’m taking three days off next week. I know exactly what I want to accomplish while I’m off so I’ll see how things go. There are two small areas in my office I want to finish in order to start the move to bring the bookshelves into the office. I have a long list of writing projects I want to work on. My to do list may seem endless but it isn’t (not quite) but I do have crocheting projects and household projects to deal with as well.
This is going to be a mini break before things go crazy at my day job. Advising and registration will fill up my time. I’m hoping this time off will be a decompressing time for me before things wind up too stressful for March and April.
The pics are all from our various trips to the Atlanta Aquarium. I LOVE going there. It’s expensive but worth it. I could watch the fish (and have) for hours. The movement of the jellyfish (and other fish) are mesmerizing and it makes me feel zen to watch them. I’m sharing here to share a bit of the zen. I hope the video works as this is my first time posting a video.
I’ve finished a scarf for one gift. Last night I worked on the edging for a fleece blanket for the mother of a friend. Vicki told me her favorite scarf was ratty so I told her to hit her stash to find yarn for another one. I started that last night.
At work, I meet up once a week to crochet with a co-worker. This week I’m working on a cloth to put in the door of a refrigerator under the ice / water in the door. Water collects there and I was asked if I could create something to fit in there to soak it up. I’ll be working on that today during our weekly session.
I’m hoping the weekend will be busy with crafting. I need to clear off some of the projects on my sofa. There are a ton of them. Some of them need prep work and some need finishing. If nothing else, I’ll pop in DVDs and watching those while I crochet. I’m binge watching Designated Survivor. I have one more disc to watch to finish the first season. Then I’ll determine whether I’m interested in the second season which I’m hoping is all on On Demand. If not, I may have to wait for it to come out on DVD and get from the library.
It’s been a stressful week. Monday is Mom’s day – I go to the nursing home to visit with her and do anything she needs me to do. Tuesday this week we met with the county person for aging to talk about the programs. I also got grumpy with one of her doctor’s offices about scheduling. The end result – I’m pretty sure that doctor’s office doesn’t like me but mom’s appointments got moved to a city half the distance from her location. My sister Aimee and I are doing funeral planning today – no mom is not dying but we are being proactive about the process. Plus for the county programs she has to have fewer assets and funds. Long term the county programs will help her more so better to spend down her accounts.
I also need to find time to read some books. I have four or five books which I need to read and review. People have sent them to me so I feel obligated to get them read. I’m working on a tough one where it is a bunch of essays. The authors use a lot of big words to say nothing. It’s disappointing – at least so far. I’ll continue to work my way through it. The nice part about the essays is it gives me short goals to get through the book faster. But it’s a large book – 300 + pages I think. My goal is to set the book next to me. Then I can read an essay or two between crocheting. I’ll see how this works. I’m hoping the other books are better and more interesting.
It’s a three day weekend! Yesterday I sat on my back deck and spent time with Vicki, Ken and Beth. I also sat in the front yard and talked to the same people, my mom and my sister.
Today I’ve had breakfast, made a decision on paint color for the kitchen, and worked on the computer. There is more work to do on the computer. I’m hoping my legs last long enough for me to get it all done.
I’ve been plagued with headaches for about three weeks. It’s annoying and frustrating because there is a lot I want to get done but can’t because my head hurts. What do I need? A massage. Unfortunately the budget is not going to stretch for one of those.
The problem with my being down with a headache, I have all these ideas bouncing around in my head and I cannot accomplish any of them. Depending on the level of headache, sitting in a dark room with silence is about the only thing I can do.
Unusual for me on a Sunday, I’ve caught up my emails. I try to take the one day away from all things work like so I can have the downtime my mind needs. This may be tomorrow as I had a ton of emails to get through.
I’m hoping to get rid of the current headache and either crochet or write after I’m done on the computer. I’ve got Wayfarer 17 pushing at me as well as a few other projects. However, I’m looking at my pile of crochet projects and they are pushing on me too. I need more time to do stuff – someone needs to win the lottery.
Prevacation cranky has come over me. Next week I’m off my day job and will be able to work on anything I want to. If you’ve read my blog – you know I have a to do list. Counting the weekends, I’m going to have nine days off! I cannot wait.
I have writing and publishing goals. I have household goals. I have crochet goals. Are there more goals than I can accomplish in nine days? Probably, most definitely.
Writing has been stampeding me. I’ve written four novels with a fifth nearly done. I’ve submitted a bunch of my novels for contests. I’ve submitted a story for a book. I had a pattern accepted in a magazine, sent it off for photographing and got it back. I sold it to a friend who liked it. I’ve been editing where I can. It’s been crazy busy.
During my lunch hour and when I watch training at work, I pick up my crocheting. I’ve made pot holders and coasters. I tried a new pattern which I’m going to have to tweak because it was poorly written. However I like the idea so I’ll tweak it. I’ve fulfilled one crochet order and gotten paid.
My house is a mess. I can’t seem to keep up on it. I’ll pick up as I’m able (which isn’t much) but I have piles of laundry in my bathroom and lots of stuff sitting around in my living room. It’s starting to bug me so more effort…. unless I get too involved in writing my novel.
We painted boards for Vicki so Ken and her can build her bookshelves and a desk. The shutters we wanted to replace the plastic ones on our house went on sale with a rebate. We picked them up. Next step is to paint them and put them up. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
If things go well, I’ll have help a couple times this next week to work on more organizing, discarding, and cleaning of my house. If schedules don’t mesh, I’ll work on other things. I know my days off are going to fly by but I can’t wait to have the time to work on what I want and get stuff done and off that never ending to do list.
For next week, I’ve got specific days which I’m working with other people. Other than that I’m hoping for quiet days at home so I can do what I want, when I want, and without a lot of fussing. A lot of peace and quiet to help recharge my batteries.
We’ve been so busy. A few projects have gotten done around the house. Ken and Vicki painted the garage door and our front door. They are now a lovely purple. I LOVE how they turned out. We still have to do the back door but of course we ran out of time.
We also got our new appliances delivered. Yes, we know stainless is in but we prefer the black and I think they look great in our kitchen with the yellow walls. The dishwasher still needs to be installed but that will be next month! I cannot wait!!!
I’m still recovering from my surgery. I still get tired too easily but it’s getting better. I didn’t have a lot of pain but every now and again, I’ll touch my nose and it will twinge. It’s not really a hurt but more a sensitivity to being touched.
This last weekend we accomplished nothing other than to go to the ALA (library) conference with Vicki. She got to talk to a lot of vendors, librarians. We got a massive number of books for her job. Ken and I got a large number as well. On top of the lovely books, I spoke to some amazing people. One was a children’s book publisher who expressed an interest in my children’s book (once I get it completed). I have her card and hopefully I can make a connection. I also spoke to and gave a card to a reviewer. Interestingly, I stopped to speak to a vendor and we got to chatting. He asked what I do – i.e. why I am at this conference. I had on my tag I was an author. He asked about what I write and took my card. Now we will see if he purchases. I realized I need to get more general cards – something which promotes my writing, editing, and publishing.
I have two days off now. I’m in need of them. The conference was fun but exhausting. I’ve been spending my nights working on crochet things – currently I’m crocheting around all the fleece I have to make it into different things. I have several I’m making up for the rummage sale. I also got another set of potholders done.
I’m working on reading a book for review. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. I’ve decided I’m going to take a book to work and read during my lunch hours. My to read list has gotten excessive and I miss reading.
I got my purse sent off to the publisher. I’m excited to see it in the magazine. I hope they like it. I know I do. It will be wonderful to get another publishing credit under my belt. This weekend I’m hoping we can get through some of our to do lists. All three of us have this long long list of things to get done. We’re making progress but our weekends are so busy.
I’ve been experiencing some serious crankiness over not physically being able to get things done. I know what needs to get done, but I can’t physically do it myself and the other people in my house are working on other things. It’s making anxious because there are aspects of the tasks I can do – i.e. sit and sort through things but when I physically try to shift things, or work on it, I can’t. My legs hurt, my joints hurt. It is frustrating me I can’t get more done. I was getting cranky at those in my house – even though it isn’t their fault – but now I’m recognizing what I’m doing, I’m attempting to do what I can. I’ve started a list and I’m getting someone in to help me do the things which are top of my priority list. The other people in my house all have their own lists which are as important as my list. I keep reminding myself in the end we’ll have a more organized space.
Today I’m working on some computer stuff where I need to be at my computer but then I’m going to go write. I’ve already updated my budget, sales for the last two months and other reports I do to keep track of my writing stuff.
I need to write my pagan blog and work on my web page. Once I’m done with these tasks (and hopefully in the process I don’t find more tasks) I am hoping to go write. I need to be off my legs and give them a chance to rest. I’m either going to write or I’ll watch some tv and crochet – with the dozens of projects I have going it won’t be hard to pick one or ten to work on.
The plan for the today and tomorrow – rest and recover from the last three days. My legs are swollen and painful which is what happens when I spend too much time doing and not resting. It will pass and in the meantime I’ll be busy doing things I’m able to do. The more I accomplish the less stressed I am about the things I can’t accomplish.
I would think things would slow down a bit but they aren’t. Our a/c was giving us grief so we had the HVAC people come look at it. In the process they discovered our furnace was broken to the point where it is dangerous to turn it on. Anyone who knows me knows I can run my a/c or furnace any time depending on my temperature. Our furnace had been red tagged – meaning we cannot use it at all. The HVAC guy turned off the gas so it doesn’t even turn on accidently. In all this drama, I’m starting to have a panic attack about the costs of the work. To fix the a/c it cost us nearly $200. When he told us about the furnace, it’s only seven years old, I started to freak out. However, it’s under warrantee so no cost to us (thankfully). But it still needs to get fixed. They are coming in on July 5 to fix it. Since I had to take off, I asked someone to come over on that day to help me with a few projects. The guy who is installing our dishwasher is coming on July 8. We have a ton of stuff to get done between now and then.
I’m hoping for a cooler weekend so I can get out in the garage and sort through some things which we have to decide if we want to keep or get rid of. I think Vicki has stuff she needs to sort out there as well so hopefully we can get it done in a couple of hours. Then I’ll move on to other projects. There are so many right now, the problem will be more in deciding which one than to find a project.
It is the Fourth of July weekend so I think Vicki has plans but I doubt Ken and I will do much more than hang out at home. If I can get the sorting done in the garage, I will likely need to sit with my feet up. This means crochet or writing time depending on who is around and what’s going on in the house. Either way at least I’ll be productive.
This past weekend was busy. It seemed like there was no time to do anything. I hoped for more progress than I got on my list but I don’t know when we could have done more.
Saturday I paid bills, worked on budget and we went to my sister-in-laws wedding. Sunday we went to several stores. The first was Home Depot and after that I sat in the car while Vicki and Ken went into the stores. Vicki and I did go to Joann’s. There were Ibottas and coupons. I got a lot of money back for buying yarn I was going to buy anyways and 10% back. Additionally I had a coupon for 20% off my whole order. On Sunday, I had two coupons for 60% off any regular priced item. I got two lengths of luxe fleece. This is super soft fleece which is normally $15 – $20 per yard. I only buy it when I have big coupons or it is on steep discount. I also found lace I liked for the front window. Ken had put up an dark blue ugly curtain I didn’t like on our front door. I looked through the lace. There was this gorgeous feeling white which I loved the feel of but didn’t really suit the room. Vicki picked out a color I liked but I didn’t think Ken would. I’m not sure he likes it but I do.
Monday Vicki and Ken went back to Home Depot to get a range hood. Ours has been getting louder and louder as well as working less. They picked up one. Ken came home and installed it. We discovered more strange things about how they did things in our house. The range hood is on the same breaker as our garage. Vicki and I went back to Joann’s because when we were there on Sunday we picked up some buttons on clearance. These are the fancy buttons which normally cost anywhere from $1 – $5 each but on clearance for 50 cents. When we were there on Saturday the buttons had all sorts of prices on them but they rang up as 50 cents. So Sunday we went back specifically for buttons. Vicki and I picked over what they had and then found a table to lay them all out at. We weeded through and narrowed it down. I still spent over $20 on buttons. But I got a great deal on them. Plus I got the 10% back on Ibotta.
All three days we went to Joann’s and I used coupons to save big, bought stuff on clearance, or used Ibotta to get rebates. I saved over $16 in rebates from Ibotta but in savings from the coupons and in store sales I saved over $85. I saved almost as much as I spent so really good deals.
As for what did get accomplished, I got bills paid. That was on my list. Ken finished the closet space in the family room. Next step is for Vicki and I to figure out what we want out there. I did work on crocheting all weekend. I got six sets of hand towels / dish towels done. I also prepped five fleece blankets for crocheting. I crocheted the edging for two of them. Other items I worked on, I got four pairs of earrings and four scrubbies made. I organized all the stuff which had been accumulating on my couch. I’m going to keep working on dish towels and hand towels. I have three skeins of scrubbie material so I’m going to keep making them up. All the excess crocheted items are going on the rummage and craft sale we’re going to have.
I got stuff done. I shouldn’t feel bad I didn’t get stuff done. I just didn’t get the stuff done I planned to get done. In the meanwhile, I’m going to keep crocheting and adding to my stockpile for the sale. I have excess fleece in the craft room which I plan to make up into blankets for the sale. In my head I have a list of things I want to make for the sale. I’ll see how far I get in making the stuff. I’m trying to only use the yarn I have on hand. I’m trying to use up my stash of yarns and reduce the amount of stuff I have in my craft room.
Ultimately a productive weekend but not productive for my list. Part of me says to let go of the damn list but another part of me knows I’ll forget things if I don’t keep my list.
Braided Scarf
Made with single crochet, this wall hanging adds a seasonal touch to any room. Use the copper (as shown) for a fall flare, or green for a summer flare. Use white or silver for a winter look and spring, simply add some small light green French knots.
Triple Triangle Afghan
