T-5 Days!

Oh holiday bazaar madness, you may be the death of me! I still have so much to do before the big day on Saturday. I sat down last night and made a checklist of things to do pre-show and things to bring and ho boy, it's kind of long. There are still 13 things on my prep/buy list, so I picked 6 to finish today. I was going to get a car today and go buy the last few things, but SOMEBODY decided to keep me up off and on for 5 hours last night. I only have 7 hours to sleep, dude...not cool. Shopping will have to wait until tomorrow.

So I think I mentioned in another post that I picked up some citric acid and started subbing that in for vinegar to dye my yarn. I am starting to have issues with it... Supposedly 1 tbsp citric acid is equivalent to something like 6-8 tbsp vinegar. I am not big on measuring, so when I used vinegar I would just pour a few glugs in the pot when i turned the heat on, and if the dye bath didn't clear I would add a few more glugs. (very technical term here, "glugs") I have checked several guides, and they recommend 1-2 tbsp citric acid for a pound of fiber. Last night I used 7 tbsp of citric acid and my dye still wouldn't set fully! I ended up with pink yarn instead of red...very frustrating. I'm going to find some pH strips to see if maybe I got a bad batch of acid.

I also only have two balls of undyed yarn left in my stash, yikes! After Saturday I will be ordering some more for sure!

TIM...

(Today I Made...)

- a ghetto light box
- an Etsy store banner

...and it totally burned me out. Damn. I need a crafting/business break.

Why, hello there, Starcraft! Fancy meeting you here!

In-Stock Dyes

Color approximations, as well as all available colors, can be found here.

Reds/Pinks:

Turkey Red
Cranberry
Fuschia
Bright Red
Rose Pink

Oranges:

Spiced Pumpkin
Saffron
Bright Orange

Yellows:

Golden Yellow
Golden Pear
Lemon Drop

Greens:

Ivy
Avocado
Herb Green
Moss
Spearmint

Blues:

Turquoise
Brilliant Blue
Nautical Blue
Colonial Blue
Island Blue

Purples:

Brilliant Violet
Lilac
Boysenberry
Lavender
Plum

Neutrals:

Jet Black
Mouse Grey
Brown
Mochachino
French Vanilla

Last updated 11/19/10

7 woolies down...

...many, many more to go. My goal is to have at least 16 pairs finished by the fair on 12/4, 4 of each size, evenly divided between longies and shorties and boyish and girly colors. I am remarkably on track. If I continue finishing one pair every other day, I will actually have over 20 finished, but I have to factor in time to wash the suckers and let them air dry before the event. My to-do list still includes ordering business cards and designing some sort of care sheet/tag/thingie, finding a pretty table cloth, getting shopping bags and a simple receipt book...ho boy. Who knows how many crucial steps I am missing because I am flying by the seat of my pants here. Still, I am SO excited!!

Tonight I tried dyeing with Kool-aid for the first time, and I can definitely see the appeal. It certainly smells yummier than my usual vinegary cauldron, and the water was practically clear after one rinse, compared to the 4-5 rinses acid dyes take. But, at the volume I'm working with, it would be so much more expensive to use and the color selection is pretty limited. To keep my wonderful, kind, patient husband content I'm ordering some citric acid right now - he complains to no end about the acrid stench while the dye pot is bubbling. And, of course, since I have to pay for shipping anyways, some new dye colors! *steeples fingers and cackles maniacally*

There is violet dye on my shirt. This is not a dyeing shirt. :(

I have a correction to my last post. Apparently I only suck at blogging - crafting I'm doing pretty well with! This week, I...

Dyed my Osnaburg wrap!



Sent off my craft swap items, including my tea cozy! Also included were two tiny pumpkins and a purple scarf, but I forgot to take pictures of those in my rush to the post office. The nut in the background is Oni.



Finished two wool shorties from my dyed yarn! Also a pair of longies that are still missing elastic and so are not pictured. The photobomber in this picture is Leela.



And, most exciting of all, HOLY CRAP I COMMITTED TO A HOLIDAY BAZAAR TO SELL MY STUFFS! I keep having "wtf was I thinking" moments, but I think this could be just the kick in the butt I need to get my craftiness into business mode. I have until December 6th to finish as many shorties, longies, hats, wrist warmers and whatever else I please as I can. Even as I type there is a dye-pot of yarn simmering on the stove and a batch in the microwave. Grandmas have been enlisted to come over during the week to keep the monster occupied while I knit my ass off. I am hoping to have about 20 shorties/longies in various sizes plus whatever else I can manage. The bazaar is at Granola Babies in Costa Mesa, so I'm focusing on the baby goods, but mama goods are welcome as well.

The one job offer I had has been pushed back yet *again,* so I am not hopeful at all that it will happen. Nobody around us is hiring part time, and the thought of going back to work full time makes me cry. Even the thought of going back part time bums me out, so I am throwing myself headlong into crafting. Wish me luck, imaginary readers!

I suck...

...at blogging, at crafting, at job hunting, blah. I am unemployed until some time next month, and yet I can't seem to find time to do anything productive.

And now, a message from your friendly neighborhood monster:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Maybe he is tired?

Anyways, I have actually been starting lots of projects lately. I joined a craft swap on Reddit, and holy cow, am I excited! I crocheted a tiny pumpkin and am halfway through a super easy tea cozy - maybe the pattern will show up here soon, hmm? Would you like that, my non-existent readers? I also have a few half-finished wool dryer balls that were super easy and used up some of my stash, and my super awesome sparkly stripey sweater is now about 75% done - one and a half sleeves and a tiny trim to go. Just in time for fall, my favorite season!

Okay, time to take this little man to Target. We are on a mission to buy some cute Halloween socks to turn into faux-babylegs. Farewell!

Bored on a Sunday

The hubby is out fixing someone's computer, the monster is napping and I...I'm refreshing Reddit and Babycenter looking for new posts. Not because I want to. I just can't think of anything I do want to do. There all sorts of things I should be doing or could be doing, but none of them are the least bit interesting at the moment. I even have a Starcraft mission open and alt-tabbed, but it all feels so meh.

I did hear back from that job again with a more definite start date - October 18, at the latest, "hopefully sooner." The whole situation has kind of soured the idea of working there, to be honest. If they can delay my start date by a month and a half because they "had a bad month," what will happen if they have a bad month after I start? Not schedule any hours for a month and a half and say they're "sensitive" to my situation? The woman hiring me has also been really hard to get in touch with to discuss anything. If she ever answers my last email, I am going to tell her that I understand sometimes things happen that are outside of our control and the needs of the business come first, but I was not planning on being out of work for this long. Please let me know when you have a definite start date, but I may have to start looking for something else in the mean time.

Or maybe I shouldn't say anything at all. Though I am planning on applying for a few other jobs as a safety net, the odds of anything starting sooner than the 18th are still slim, since it will take time to review resumes, schedule interviews, make offers, etc. At this point I don't owe anyone anything, so what's the harm in backing out on an offer if necessary? I may feel like a jerk, but it happens, and at least when I was in HR there were rarely any hard feelings.

Somebody just sighed over the baby monitor...back to the grind...

Now I'm really unemployed

So my start date was delayed indefinitely. They have to wait until after their trade show in October to see if they can afford to hire me at all. So much for that job...now I get to spend my Friday trying to keep the monster distracted long enough for me to put together some cover letters and I have to use some of my savings to get some new slacks this weekend. Yuck.

Crafting? Ha. I *wish* I had the capital to buy some supplies and start cranking out some product, or at least some prototypes, while I have all this time at home, but I think buying wool interlock at $25/yard or silk ribbon at $30/roll would be a little irresponsible right now. I did manage to finish the back of a sweater I started for myself a few months ago and start the first front piece. It's stripey and sparkly and wonderful...maybe I'll have somewhere to wear it soon? Like a new job? Please?

Unemployed...

...well, mostly. This is the first time in almost ten years that I haven't had a full-time or even fully-part-time job. Technically I still have my piano gig, so I am a little bit employed, but that takes up about 5 hours per week. I also should have started my new part-time job yesterday, but the manager called last minute to delay my start date by "a few weeks," and hasn't called back with a new start date yet. Part of me is worried that the call back may be to tell me I won't have a start date at all, but the rest of me is so happy to be home with the monster all day.

I have not crafted a damn thing. My beautiful shopping list of supplies was set aside in favor of pinching every penny until I'm working again.

T-8 days

Holee sheet, I quit my job. I am now in my two week wait, so to speak. Leaving this job is turning out to be much sadder than I thought it would be, considering how much I was dreading going back. The last four years really have been awesome, and I'm going to seriously miss all my coworkers. I know once I'm done I'll be so happy at home, but this prolonged goodbye is draining me.

On the crafting front...this Friday I am getting my first paycheck in two months, plus a bonus!! Most of it is going to savings since our credit cards are all paid, but I do have a husband-approved shopping list of necessities to get my Etsy store going. I've been scouring Craigslist for a printer - finally, 8 years after moving out of my parents' house, I'll have a printer again! It's such a silly thing to be missing, but I'll no longer have the luxury of printing whatever I need at work, and if sales take off (please take off, please!) there will be invoices and miscellanea to print. Once I have more free time crafting will be srs bsns. I'm also planning on getting some silk ribbon, wool interlock, hemp/bamboo fleece...lots of fluffy goodies!

I'm also on the prowl for a new wrap. I would looooooove a fische...either black or the natural tussah silk, so I can dye them. I definitely need to practice dying my osnaburg wrap before throwing an expensive wrap in the dye pot, though. A Didy Agave or Robert would be lovely too, but it's all going to depend what's on the swap board once I get mah moneys.

Back to fluffy plans...Friday can't get here soon enough.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

I GOT IT I GOT IT

OMG I GOT IT I GOT IT!!!~

By "it" I am referring to a fabulous part time job! My god, I am just over the moon. Arranging child care has been hell, as has not seeing the monster for 10+ hours each day. I'm just waiting one more week to give notice, then I'm out like a trout. The store owner was incredibly nice and accommodating - I can start work whenever I like, and they agreed to my 20-24 hours per week minimum. I get to teach moms about breastfeeding and sell them stuff and and and YAY!

Only my truest closest friends at work get to hear this news since I want to wait to give notice. I may be kind of a jerk, but there is a bonus next week and mama wants. I am on the fence of whether or not to even tell them I got another position already. Part of me thinks it may be wiser to exit gracefully, slip unnoticed out the back door, but I have made a lot of friends over the last four years.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The Grind

My second day back at work... /sadface

Well, it's not that bad. I was thinking about it this morning and, if I had to, I could suck it up and do this. I cried all the way to work yesterday, but once I was here and distracted it was bearable. No tears today, and I am even kind of enjoying seeing everyone and answering emails. It's just depressing to think that I only saw the monster for 2 hours total yesterday, half an hour in the morning before work and 2 hours after I got home before he fell asleep. The hubs has promised that it will only be for a month, even if my part time job falls through. I can do this. I can do this.

On the creative front, I finally finished that damn diaper. It came out freaking adorable, and I put it on the monster when he woke up this morning. The fit was a little funky, but it was cute. I need to re-draft my pattern so the rise is higher. I don't know how these one-size diapers are supposed to work on giants like my guy. There is no way this diaper or any of his BSRBs will fit until potty-training, unless he is a rockstar and quits diapers as soon as he can walk. If I have the energy I'll work on a new pattern tonight. I have a World of Warcraft shirt all picked out for version 2.0.

(Side note - More Milk Plus liquid is na-stee. I don't know why they even make a liquid form of it when there are pills that don't taste gross. Yuck.)

I also had another brainstorm - flowers! They seem to be everywhere, but I can't find ones like I have in my head. A long time ago a friend taught me how to hand sew roses from silk ribbon, and they would be perfect to sew on to headbands or hair clips. The ones I made were from hand dyed silk ribbon, which I looked up and is a little out of my price range. But! I like dying stuff, and I found 35 yard spools of white ribbon for around $30. I think my entire first paycheck is going into fabrics and ribbons and goodies. Well, plus a nice wrap for carrying monster...sort of a present to myself for not quitting right away.

(Other side note - must start tracking purchases for theoretical business. This could be quite the tax write-off.)

Okay, back to staring at my empty inbox.

fail...

So...the doomed dipe is still 95% done. I have about 10 inches of topstitching left, and my machine is being a piece of poop. Thanks, Craigslist. I took it in to the local sewing repair shop, and the guy basically said any repairs would cost enough that I would be better off buying a new machine. Fffffuuuuuuu...

arrrg this dipe is doomed!

So did you notice I never posted pictures? :( I got back to work on it last night, attached elastic, clipped corners and curves, turned the beauty out...the problems started with topstitching. Every few inches my machine would start squeaking, suck the fabric down and make a ton of loops on the bobbin side. I really hope the problem is just that I'm sewing on knits with a non-knit needle, but every store I tried today was either closed or out of the right needle. Looks like Monster and I will be walking to the sewing store tomorrow!

In other news... I'm supposed to go back to work next Monday, and each day my dread grows. Visions of winning lotto tickets dance in my head, and part of me hopes that if I just don't accept this is really happening, maybe it won't. Thinking of anyone besides me taking care of him, even my mom or mother in law, causes panic. I just don't know if I can do it, even for a few weeks. I have an interview for a part time job at a local breastfeeding shop Tuesday morning, which could solve all my problems. Fingers crossed until then...

-Jools

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

all I needed was some peace and quiet

Tonight the mister went out and the monster went to bed at his usual 8:00, and guess what - I sewed! Well, first I played a little Starcraft. I just couldn't resist, but I did manage to pull myself away after just 2 missions.

(This was going to be a lovely picturelicious post, but *someone* decided to bust out of his swaddle at midnight, so you will have to settle for the abridged nursing-with-iPhone version. Pics tomorrow!)

Tonight's project was a fitted diaper from two t-shirts and one too-small prefold. I drafted a pattern from a fitted I am fond of, but I have already identified several tweaks for version 2.1. Luckily I have a decent supply of t-shirts to work with.

You know...I am just going to repeat myself when pics go up tomorrow, so I'll wait. Besides, iPhone typing sucks. Till then...

-Jools

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Where is my time?!

I haven't sewn anything in a week...Self, you need to pull it together. You have made one single diaper, which was in need of serious refinement, and since then have done lots of in-head planning. You haven't even put anything down on paper. This work-at-home thing will never happen if you can't motivate yourself.

Okay, enough with the lecture. I do have brownies in the oven to make myself feel better. Since I haven't accomplished anything tangible, I'll at least commit my ideas to the interwebs.

One-size wool soakers: has this even been done? I am thinking snap-down wool interlock, almost like a PUL cover style, or maybe pull-on with adjustable leg elastic. If I were to knit some maybe an allover rib pattern would provide enough stretchiness. I haven't yet figured out how to use upcycled wool in this idea.

(the brownies are finished - OMG, plus an episode of Louie, best 20 minutes of the day)

Next idea: cute onesie extenders. Those things are damn hard to find and I don't think cute ones even exist. But, you can't apply metal snaps with pliers, so I would have to get a press...not sure if I'm ready for that kind of investment.

(school sucks! remember? I love this show.)

Last idea: big & tall diapers. I am convinced Monster will outgrow all his cute one-size fitteds way before he is potty trained, and surely he's not the only freaky giant baby in cloth diapers. But where would I find these giant babies to try diapers on?

Alas, bedtime calls...tomorrow! Tomorrow, something will get done, I'm sure of it!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

frist!

First blog posts are always so awkward. I feel the need to explain myself, my motivations, my funny made up words... Future posts will be easier, once all of this is out of the way.

Well, I'll start with the made up words. Please reference this Dinosaur Comic. It was between that and...well...I've been stuck on coming up with a blog name for about two weeks now, to be honest. Each day, something awesome or silly or frustrating would happen and I would think, wow! I could turn that into a clever anecdote that someone might enjoy reading! But I didn't because I couldn't come up with a suitably unique name. Finally tonight I turned to my good old friends, suffixes. I considered -opolis, -opoly, -licious, and a few others, but then I remembered how much my good friend T-Rex likes -cracy.

Funny made up words: Check.

So me! This part will probably be boring, so I'll keep it short. I am a 26-year-old, married, heathen mama to two kitties and a 3 and a half month old boy (AKA Monster). I have an unhealthy addiction to lurking on baby forums and Reddit. Recently, as of the last oh, 3 and a half months, I've been absorbing ridiculous amounts of information on breastfeeding, cloth diapers and babywearing. I work in human resources because I *love* rules. No joke. I'll probably devote a whole post to my strange adoration for The Rules some day. In my spare time (har de har, spare time with a new baby) I dabble in the culinary arts, knit, sew, and play video games.

About me: Check.

And lastly, my Why. His name is Monster, and he is the most amazing little being I have ever met. I would do anything to be with him 24/7, so dammit, I'm going to try everything. And I need some motivation, so I am going to pretend that I have an audience hanging on my every word (you are hanging on them, right?) keeping me accountable in my endeavor to become a stay at home mom. The 9-5 just isn't for me any more, especially since my 9-5 is more like 8-7. My job is awesome and fun and rewarding, but it's nothing compared to taking care of my little man.

Motivation: Check.

So...that's everything. Me and my reasons. Follow along as I peddle my wares in hopes that some day, maybe, I'll escape corporate America.

-Jools