Projects
but not the knitting kind.
Through a freak of scheduling, this week I have two afternoons off from work when the children are at school/daycare. This never happens.
I have been a whirling dervish of activity. Whever I have time away from the kids I struggle to choose what to do of the approximately 14 bajillion things that I need to get done at any given point. I also struggle with choosing between doing something just for fun and doing all that things that I should do.
Having two afternoons in a row made me all a fuddle of choices.
In the end I did a little of both worlds. On Tuesday I spent the afternoon doing this:
We have an old-fashioned style linoleum tile floor. If it's cleaned regularly (which it usually isn't) I can do a quick mop and go. It occasionally needs a coat of polish to smooth the surface. Once in a long while, when it gets really grimy and worn down, it needs to be stripped and polished. Nasty chemical stripper that has to be applied to a small section, left to sit for a few minutes, and then scrubbed to within an inch of its life. Rinse, and repeat. For 2.5 hours.
It's not a great photo, but look at how the light squares on the left are much grubbier than the light square on the right? Yeah, that's what I spent 2.5 hours doing.
After that I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening putting wax/polish on the floor: spread on with a mop, let sit for 30 minutes, repeat. All while juggling the kids, dinner and bedtime (solo, 'cause the Hubby was out for the evening).
So, so, sore the next day. Muscles in my back and arms that I had forgotten I had.
Needless to say, today I felt almost no compunction to do anything that I "needed" to get done. So I worked on a sewing project that was lingering:
I've been working on this for a little while, and I'm thrilled to have it finished. It's an Amy Butler messenger bag, and I like it a lot. The choice of fabric/color is very uncharacteristic for me, but this fabric just jumped right out at me. The lining is a small-scale pink floral - I know, me? Pink? Who'd have thought it?
What you can't tell from the photo is how heavily engineered this bag is; there are all sorts of pockets and zippers and pouches. It was fun to make and I'm going to enjoy using it.
Sorry for the crummy photo, but it's night and that's the best I can do. Hopefully better photos will follow someday.
It was a fun project. The pattern was very well done, with only a few points that I didn't like the way they were handled. It was strange though; at one point I realized that I was sewing only straight lines! When was the last time I sewed something with no curves? Ever?
I have been knitting:
This is a swatch I did for a sweater for Buddy. It is a Dale pattern in Dale Baby Ull, one of my favorite baby yarns. I bought the yarn at the Full Thread Ahead superbowl sale in 2006. I'm making the size 3, the largest size in the pattern (Buddy is 2 years old). I made on change based on the swatch - I switched the light and dark greens and it looks much better. It's a cardigan that I'm working in the round, I'm about 3/4 of the way to the armhole opening. I'm working one yarn in each hand and finding it very soothing. I don't do a lot of colorwork and I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy this project, but I'm finding it relaxing and very satisfying.
Tomorrow I'm back to my regular work schedule, which includes Saturday this week. I'm glad to have gotten so much done in the last couple of days, it felt good to accomplish something.
Through a freak of scheduling, this week I have two afternoons off from work when the children are at school/daycare. This never happens.
I have been a whirling dervish of activity. Whever I have time away from the kids I struggle to choose what to do of the approximately 14 bajillion things that I need to get done at any given point. I also struggle with choosing between doing something just for fun and doing all that things that I should do.
Having two afternoons in a row made me all a fuddle of choices.
In the end I did a little of both worlds. On Tuesday I spent the afternoon doing this:
We have an old-fashioned style linoleum tile floor. If it's cleaned regularly (which it usually isn't) I can do a quick mop and go. It occasionally needs a coat of polish to smooth the surface. Once in a long while, when it gets really grimy and worn down, it needs to be stripped and polished. Nasty chemical stripper that has to be applied to a small section, left to sit for a few minutes, and then scrubbed to within an inch of its life. Rinse, and repeat. For 2.5 hours.
It's not a great photo, but look at how the light squares on the left are much grubbier than the light square on the right? Yeah, that's what I spent 2.5 hours doing.
After that I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening putting wax/polish on the floor: spread on with a mop, let sit for 30 minutes, repeat. All while juggling the kids, dinner and bedtime (solo, 'cause the Hubby was out for the evening).
So, so, sore the next day. Muscles in my back and arms that I had forgotten I had.
Needless to say, today I felt almost no compunction to do anything that I "needed" to get done. So I worked on a sewing project that was lingering:
I've been working on this for a little while, and I'm thrilled to have it finished. It's an Amy Butler messenger bag, and I like it a lot. The choice of fabric/color is very uncharacteristic for me, but this fabric just jumped right out at me. The lining is a small-scale pink floral - I know, me? Pink? Who'd have thought it?
What you can't tell from the photo is how heavily engineered this bag is; there are all sorts of pockets and zippers and pouches. It was fun to make and I'm going to enjoy using it.
Sorry for the crummy photo, but it's night and that's the best I can do. Hopefully better photos will follow someday.
It was a fun project. The pattern was very well done, with only a few points that I didn't like the way they were handled. It was strange though; at one point I realized that I was sewing only straight lines! When was the last time I sewed something with no curves? Ever?
I have been knitting:
This is a swatch I did for a sweater for Buddy. It is a Dale pattern in Dale Baby Ull, one of my favorite baby yarns. I bought the yarn at the Full Thread Ahead superbowl sale in 2006. I'm making the size 3, the largest size in the pattern (Buddy is 2 years old). I made on change based on the swatch - I switched the light and dark greens and it looks much better. It's a cardigan that I'm working in the round, I'm about 3/4 of the way to the armhole opening. I'm working one yarn in each hand and finding it very soothing. I don't do a lot of colorwork and I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy this project, but I'm finding it relaxing and very satisfying.
Tomorrow I'm back to my regular work schedule, which includes Saturday this week. I'm glad to have gotten so much done in the last couple of days, it felt good to accomplish something.
2 Comments:
Last summer I made a bag out of that same brown/pink fabric, with a small-scale pink floral print inside and lots of pockets. Hmmm, okay I guess we're not twins, because I only vacuumed my kitchen floor; I haven't scrubbed it yet.
-Kathy in San Jose
Busy, busy, busy!
I love the look of that bag, but I am a sucker for structured bags with many pockets and assorted hidey-holes.
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