Today I went with one of my nieces craft shopping. I used gift cards and holiday cash to make all of my purchases! The other great thing is everything I bought was on sale – everything. So not only did I get great deals and the materials I wanted but I didn’t spend a penny out of my own account. Thank you to my faculty at my job, one family member, and a friend. They made this relaxing day completely possible!
Joanns has a great sale on and I stocked up on crochet cotton. I can’t lie – the $1 a skein made me nearly clean out their display of the colors they had. Then I hit the aisles to look for yarn for two blankets, one scarf and other crochet cotton (also on sale) which had different colors. The per ounce price (yes I figured out for each of the brands on sale) for the $1 per skein was FABULOUS. I got most of what I wanted – though I never get enough yarn.
My niece and I had a lovely day together, spending time and chatting. We went to Burnie’s rock shop as well. It was crowded and busy and yet we both managed to find items to purchase.
I have an afghan nearly done for her and I was hoping to surprise her with it today but at 12:30 last night I gave it up and said nope… too much left to do. I’ll keep working on it and hope to get it done in the next week or two.
Aside from her blanket, I’m going to be at the Whitewater library on January 19, so I plan to make a few small things which can hopefully fill up my table and make some sales. At this point, I’m thinking coasters and dishcloths but I want to consult my list to see if I can come up with other things. 
While at Joann’s today, I picked up pins to use for blocking several pairs of earrings, bracelets and a bookmark. Once they’ve dried, I’ll have to find buttons for the bracelets and those can come with me to the sale as well.
I feel like I’m getting caught up. Tomorrow I plan to work on crochet patterns – publishing and posting. I’ve got a long list of them to work on so I’m hoping to get a large chunk of them done. I have new patterns which include two leaflets (meaning multiple patterns) to publish. I have three groups of patterns I’ve not posted on Ravelry and need to get those up there. This is the task which takes the longest. I’m hoping to get through all of them before I go back to work so the next two day I think will be taken up with those.
I’m winding down on my days off. I feel good about the progress I’ve made with projects. Before this time off, I always felt like I was falling further and further behind. Now I feel caught up and ready to move forward.
If I manage to get through the crochet patterns, I think I’m going to work on the short story I had professionally edited – it was so mangled from all the different version, I needed to help with it.
I’m at the end of my day and feel really good. It was good to get one on one with my niece and to shop for things I love. Now I get to play with all of it, making things for others who will hopefully really appreciate the goodies.