New Year, New Me

Anyone that knows me knows that I don't make new years resolutions. I set goals but I don't see a point in waiting for the new year. I can procrastinate but when I want to change something about myself or my habits, the time to start is right when I get the idea. Kudos to those who wait for the new year.

This past month has been busy with the flu and everyone around me getting sick. I have taken the month to really reflect on what I want for myself. These last couple of  years, I have really lost myself in the hustle and bustle of life. I woke up, went to work, got home, ate went to bed. Repeat. I set time aside for me, which was mostly me crafting for someone else. Don't get me wrong, I still love to craft and I love gifting more than anything in the world.

I spent my life trying to make everyone around me happy that I really just lost my own happiness. That isn't anyone's fault except mine. It is important to take time for yourself. You should take care of yourself. I have always told others that you need to make sure that you are taken care of before you take care of anyone else. What good are you to someone if you still have needs that are unmet?

Well, I didn't take my advice until just recently.

January was a month of reflection and setting goals. I want to concentrate on my health. I'm not in a bad way but there are things I want/need to improve.

• Vitamins- I have been low an a good amount of my vitamins (D, B6, B12, A and another one that I can't remember). My iron is finally out of the red zone, but the rest still need a lot of help. So, I went and bought almost a year's supply (300) Women's Daily Multi-vitamins. I am on Day three of taking them. I don't feel much different but I'm sure I will soon.
• Drink more water! These last few months I have mostly been drinking Dr. Pepper. It is my vice and although I still want to have some every now and then (because it is my vice) I need want to consume my weight, in ounces, of water, every day. Dr. Pepper should be a treat (like when the dear husband and I go out to eat)
• Consume less sugar!  Outside of Dr. Pepper I don't really consume sugar. I have my thin mints that I get into after a long, really rough day at work but I'm more into the salty things than the sweet. Getting (almost) rid of Dr. Pepper will help with this. Also, the dear husband is diabetic so we have cut down a lot. 
• Eat more fruits and veggies!  I am a fruit and veggie fiend. I got away from it because the dear husband is a carnivore through and through. He doesn't eat veggies or fruits, usually and I haven't been able to eat through an entire bag of apples before they go bad. We are working on this.
• Exercise! I walk to work, every day. That is about 20 minutes of casual walking 5 days a week. Then I walk at work but it isn't enough. I want to get rid of my belly. Doc says it isn't anything out of the normal because your insides make it to where you won't have a completely flat belly. But, I need to get in more of a routine than just walking. So, today, I started the 30 Day Abs challenge. I also want to follow some dance work out videos because the Ab challenge is only about 5-10 minutes. 

I have played with the idea of joining a gym but my fear is that I don't know what half of the machines do or how to work them. Treadmills, I won't do, I get enough walking in and when the snow melts, I will try my hand at running. I'm thinking a couch to marathon type deal, that way I don't tear my meniscus again.  I would love to be able to run a 5k!

These are my goals and I am going to try and post updates, every week, jut to keep me accountable. 

Never fear, crafting things are on the way! We are not going to be doing just fitness. Also, with eating right, comes new recipes!

What are some of your favorite ways to stay fit?

I would love to hear what you think! Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Remember you are Beautiful and well loved.

My first Toy!

 My last post was filled with my  New Year, yarn resolutions. Although I think I have a pretty good start, considering that it has only been a week into the new year, I don't count this project towards my goal. I decided to try my hand at making a toy, my new years resolution is to make a doll. When I looked at the doll patterns that I have, they seemed overly complicated and super tiny. I wanted to try something that I didn't think I could mess up. So, I tried this rabbit here.

At the time that I started collecting every free pattern there was, related to crochet, the pattern was free. Now, it is on sale for $4 USD. The pattern was mostly easy to work. The sewing instructions and eye instructions were vauge. I did not use saftey eyes as the pattern had called for. I don't know how to use them and I only have two pairs. Fun. So, I embroidered (which by the way I'm not really good at) the eyes. There were no instructions on how to make a pom-pom that the pattern called for so my bunny is tail-less. Poor bunny.

I would have liked to have a little more instruction in some areas, especially considering that this was my first toy pattern. In my future designs, I am going to try my best to have full instructions because you really don't know who has chosen your design as their "Learning Project". 

Speaking of new designs, I am working on two at the moment. The first is another graphed blanket but that probably won't be up for a long while. The second is part of me getting in touch with my Lord of The Rings geeky side and it is going to be, I think, a pillow. I have it drawn out. I was wanting to make a scarf but I think it is going to be too wide.

So, future designs: some will probably have something to do with Lord of the Rings, there aren't that many crochet patterns related to Tolkien's works and I really want to change that. I am going to work on other projects and get a hang of some more designs. I did design a shawl for a gift but didn't write down the pattern. I'm going to try and remember it and have that up soon. So, there are a few designs going on. Be on the look out for those.

Freddy has, apparently, claimed the bunny as his own. I'm surprised that he is not afraid of it. Ha!

What project(s) are you working on? Feel free to leave a comment below, I always enjoy hearing from you. 

Remember that you are beautiful and well loved

2016 Yarn Resolutions!

Every year, since I started to crochet, I have tried to learn something new. Granted, I have only been crocheting for a couple of years, so I have a lot to learn. The first year was just grasping the basic stitches. My new projects had something to do with learning a new stitch and I kept track of what stitches I learned. This last year, I wanted to start making my own pattern designs, which I did. I have even sold a couple of them.

This year, I hope to continue with designing, and possibly start a CAL (Crochet A-long) of my own.

I have so much that I want to do this year that I don't even really know where to get started.

First, the blankets. I have been able to add on one blanket per year that I have crocheted. Las year I barely was able to make three. There was the Ladybug blanket for Emeline, the diamond blanket for my swap partner and finally the Boston Red Sox Blanket for my hubby.

This year I'm going to try for four blankets.
There is one I already started, for a special someone who is getting married, this year. I joined another swap, so that is the second blanket. I want to make a Cathedral Rose Blanket for our living room, and then one for a Christmas gift. (Every year someone has received a crocheted blanket for Christmas and I would love to keep that going).

Blankets are things I already know how to make, so I'm not really learning anything there. I just added one for a challenge.

This year, I am going to learn multiple things:
I want to learn how to crochet:
Socks
Toys (more specifically dolls)
and some sort of wearable that isn't a poncho (like a sweater, dress or skirt)

Along with all of this, I am going to be making Christmas Decorations for 2016, because we have only a couple decorations. I have already started on a Tree Skirt and I'm trying to find a pattern that Jc likes for his sock. Ornaments are small projects and would be a marvelous break from the four afghan projects.

It seems like I have bitten off more than I can chew, but it is going to be a wonderful journey and I'm excited for it.

Do you have any resolutions this year?

Feel free to leave a comment below, I always love hearing from you. Also, check out my other posts!

Have a very blessed New Year and always remember that you are Beautiful and well loved.

To Make A Hole, You Must Start Digging

After a couple of slight panic attacks over Christmas, which isn't for another couple of months, and writing a list of gifts to make (which can be found in my earlier post, Dear Santa, May I Borrow Some Elves?) I have begun to make somewhat of a dent.

So far I have made 2/10 Scarves. I am in the middle of designing a third.

I used a basic Double Crochet stitch for one scarf:

and I used the "Strawberry Wine Cable Scarf" Pattern for the second:

I also made a couple of colorful headbands with some yarn gifted to me by Nina:

The yarn is 50% Soy Silk and 50% wool. South West Trading Company, Karaoke-299
 I also used the Double Shell Headband Pattern, which is a free pattern, for these two.
I absolutely loved the yarn for this and I'm going to look into getting more yarn. The Soy Silk tones down the wool's scratchiness. Wool doesn't usually make me itch but some wools do seem a little rough. This one is so soft and smooth, I wish you could feel it through the screen!

I am about 40 rows away from being finished with a blanket that I have been working on for a while. My goal is to have that finished by the end of this month. To do that, I want to try to crochet at least 5 rows a day (starting tomorrow because I work all day today). If I kept to this, I should have it finished by the 25th of September. Then I could concentrate on finishing the design for the hubby's blanket and the rest of the smaller projects.

The scarves will only take me a couple hours each, if I use patterns that I already have, and stop designing new ones. The shawls will take a little longer. Which, I started on one shawl and I'm really loving the pattern. I will make a new post about that, since this one is already stuffed with pictures. 

So, right now, I am working on  a new scarf design, a shawl, and a blanket. I want to finish this scarf and another scarf before I switch over to hats. 

Please remember that you are beautiful and well loved. 

New Years Resolutions 2015

I have never been big on New Years Resolutions. In fact, there are a lot of things about the American New years that I do not understand. I mean, really, what is the point of watching a ball drop. That is what everybody (okay, not everyone but a lot of people I know) looks forward to on New Year's Eve. It doesn't even drop fast,or explode. It is very anti-climactic in it's slowly dropping, color changing that I get way too bored and I don't see what the hype is about. If anyone can explain this American Tradition,to me, please...leave a comment because I truly don't understand.

Although I do not understand the whole, ball dropping thing. I do like that New Year's drives people to make goals to better themselves in some way or another. I think that it is important to have goals and so I made a small list of ways that I would like to improve.

1. I would like to be a better wife. I want to communicate better with my husband and show himthat I love him in a way that he understands. Our "love languages" are just so different but I really want to try hard to show him I love him. We don't see each other much since I have started working, which only means that I need to work harder at communicating.

2. I want to be a better sister to my brother-in-law,sister-in-law and brother. Most of this has to do with communication, sending letters,emails and actually getting gifts out on time. My sister-in-law is not at home and I have neglected talking with her because I didn't know what to say about some of the decsisions she has made for herself. My brother and I don't really talk much and even though I have tried, I know that I have not tried hard enough.

3. I want to be a better aunt to my niece and nephew. This means being a part of their life, somehow and getting gifts out on time.

4. Communicating better with my family. I am terrible about not sending e-mails or calling my family. Not because I don't like them and being busy isn't an excuse. I have actually written on my calendar a sort of schedule to get me started with e-mailing my family and keeping in touch. Most of my family is out of state and the closest family is a few hours away, so frequent visits are not always an option.

5. I would like to read more. I would like to read more professional literature so that I can stay caught up in education.

I think that these goals are a good start. I didn't do it just because of New Years but I did need to start making some goals. The big trend seems to be communication.  I made sure to specify how I know I have reached these goals because things like "Lose weight" doesn't have a number so if that was my goal and I lost two pounds, I would have reached it. I find that it is better to be sepecific in goals.

What are some of your New Year's Resolutions or goals?  Please, feel free to comment below.