Friday, September 5, 2014

Knitting, Weaving and Moving! Oh My!

I don't remember being this busy in quite some time. We will be getting the keys to our new house this weekend. On Tuesday I will need to go over there and get as much painting as I can done. I want to help my brother paint our new house for more than just one day by my work week of 10+ hours a day doesn't allow for it. On the days I work, I barely manage to knit for an hour or two after I get home from work. But I'll help him the best I can. In the meantime, we need to keep packing. My room is still only about half packed. Thankfully the yarn is mostly pre-packed because it lives in bins and such. There is some yarn that is sitting our but that can be put into a box as long as I don't need it. Then on next Friday, we will drive to mom's, pack the uhaul we're renting there, drive back the next day and put the rest of our stuff in the uhaul and unload it. I'm really glad I took a few days off from work with my PTO because I'm going to need it.

As far as crafting goes, I've been weaving a lot lately. The next scarf that is going on the loom today will be my first plaid scarf. I want to expand past scarves but I know right now they are good practice. I already know that I'm going to want a new loom when I look to expand past scarves. I'm dying to make myself a plaid shawl in fall colors but I don't think it will end up happening this year. There is just so much else to do and I don't have the money right now to afford the yarn I want to use.

September is the start of a new HPKCHC term. It took a couple days but my OWL has been approved and I've started working on that. It is a multi-project OWL and two of them have been started. For classes I have started a shawl that I'm absolutely in love with and was nearly sitting on my hands to keep from casting on. I don't think it is quite half done but I'm into the repeats of chart 3 of 4. I have also cast on a pair of simple socks. They have a little more pattern than plain vanilla socks so it will keep me interested but not keep me from knitting while I watch Netflix. 

Most of the time I start a term off with casting on my OWL and at least 2-3 classes. I always end up focusing on the classes and failing my OWL. I'm determined to do a healthy mix of both this time. The shawl is my main focus for September but I have other projects that are easier to grab on the go. Several hours of my weekly knitting time is spent knitting during my break at work. It takes away from my knitting to be looking at a chart. So the projects I can memorize are the ones I take with me. Right now I have my Ravenclaw scarf from my OWL in my bag I take to work. I will switch the projects around as I can so I don't get too bored. My days off are nice. I try to spend them knitting as much as I can because I know I don't get a lot done during the rest of the week.

I have put my etsy on vacation until I am done moving. This will help my knitting some too. I used to be smart about it and have a stock of the Harry Potter hats that sell the most. And then I kept selling them without making the stock inbetween orders. So now when I get an order for a hat, I have to stop what I'm doing and make it. And it is just hard on me to do that, especially when I am working on a project I really like. So the vacation is not only for the move but to also catch up on some stock again. I'll have new listings to post when I bring it back and that will be exciting.

I hope you have a wonderful day!