14 for 2014

I considered doing a "38 while 38" goal list around my birthday last month, but considering I didn't get through half of my "37 while 37" list, I thought this would be more attainable. 

Here are 14 things I am going to accomplish this year:

1. Have a family portrait made.
2. Read 25 books (or listen to, as I tend towards audiobooks lately so I can work and read)
3. Do 3 half-marathons (Little Rock on 3/2, others TBD)
4. Lose 50 lbs
5. Log 750 miles walking (or running if I get back into that)
6. Continue my once-a-month photos with my girls
7. Family Fun Days twice a month (or more)
8. Meditate three times a week (or more)
9. Get a tattoo
10. Start selling my crochet work
11. Mood afghan
12. Teach at least one of my kids to crochet
13. Sew at least one thing a month
14. No smoking

I ordered a treadmill today.  My rec center pass runs out very soon and considering that I only used the treadmill there, and it cost me $6 each time I went for childcare, it was worth just buying one for the house.  It's going where the Christmas tree was.  Yes, in my living room.  So it can stare at me and guilt me if I don't use it.  =)

A note about #14... it's "no smoking" instead of "quit smoking" because it's been almost 2 weeks since my last cigarette.  I was having trouble quitting and decided to try an e-cigarette.  I did some research online and decided to go to the local vape store (it's called "vaping" instead of "smoking" because it's vapor, not smoke) instead of just picking up a kit at the gas station.  I bought a starter kit for $40, and I LOVE it.  If you're not familiar with what the difference is, here's the basic idea...instead of burning plant matter to get the nicotine (and inhaling thousands of added chemicals), the nicotine is in a base liquid (made out of ingredients that are in all sorts of everyday things like asthma inhalers).  The liquid is heated up by an atomizer and produces a vapor. 

I know a lot of people don't see it as any better or different that smoking, but it's nothing like it at all and there has been a lot of research that shows people who go to e-cigarettes show the same improvements in health that a person who stops smoking altogether does.  Some people argue that there isn't enough research to support that it's better for you because it's a fairly new technology, but my personal opinion is that it probably isn't as good as ditching nicotine completely, but heating up a liquid with a few simple ingredients versus burning leaves laced with arsenic and thousands of other known harmful chemicals HAS to be better for me.

But, I don't stink like smoke anymore.  I hated smelling like smoke - I would immediately wash my hands and would even wear a different jacket outside just to smoke in.  I wouldn't wear it anywhere else.  It tastes much better, too.  You can get e-juice that tastes like tobacco, but there are hundreds of other flavors, too.  Right now mine tastes like cinnamon and watermelon, which sounds like an odd combo, but it's awesome.  There's no second-hand smoke (just water vapor) to endanger other people, and hardly any smell (and what little there is smells really nice).  And it's sooooo much cheaper.  I was spending at least $25 a week on cigarettes, and a bottle of e-juice that lasts me at least a week is $10.  You can spend a lot on components if you get really into it, but I'm happy with what I have.  I have to replace a $2 part every few weeks and in the future I might need to replace the battery.  It's already paid for itself and I feel better.  I did go through about a week of adjusting.... you do still go through some withdrawal, but it wasn't anything like quitting before.  So, no more smoking.  I don't smoke, I vape.  LOL  That sounds so stupid to me.  Maybe I'll try quitting nicotine altogether eventually (I can buy liquid with lower nicotine, even without any) but this works for me right now.

So, that's that.

Best wishes to you all for a spectacular 2014!  May all your wishes come true and your goals be met!

2014 Mood Blanket

I am trying to post this from my phone, so excuse any strange autocorrects that I may miss.  =)

I have always wanted to do some sort of "one-a-day" type of project, but I am afraid I won't follow through an entire year. Well, I think this is going to be the year. I am going to make a mood blanket.

My color pallet is a bit monochromatic, but I want something for my bedroom and I like pale blues and greens.

It took me a while to finally decide on a pattern. At first I didn't want to do granny squares so I thought about making a blanket out of flowers. But when I thought about that, I realized it would end up small and bulky. After racking my brain, I decided to make another Babette blanket. But the pattern only has 126 squares. After doing some math and trying to revise the pattern a million different ways, I finally realized that if I dropped the last section off, there are 90 squares.  I will just duplicate it 4 times to make an afghan that will probably be almost queen size!  Perfect! Add a border 5 rows wide and I have 365! 

I am really excited about this and looking forward to what I hope will be a very light blue and green blanket!

Christmas Run-down

I need to stop promising to make blog posts about things. 

I have a lot on my mind with the New Year coming, things I will share, but for now I need to show off all my Christmas crafting...

First, the dresses.  Unfortunately, I do not have any good pictures of my kids wearing their dresses.  I had hoped to get some yesterday, but they got other new clothes that were far more exciting and they passed on wearing their dresses for pictures.  Plus, it's really difficult to get them to pay attention to me long enough to stand still and pose for a picture right now.  Chaos rules.  But here are the dresses on hangers...

Olivia's dress... Lorelei pattern by Lilygiggle

Zoe's dress... Secret Garden pattern by Lilygiggle

Isabelle's dress... Juliet pattern by Lilygiggle 

(this is my favorite of the three, especially once they tried them on)

I made a doll each for the girls.  And Grover Cleveland.  And an elf.

The Prez and our elf Cinnamon

Olivia's Princess Selenia from Arthur and the Invisibles

Isabelle's Bunny

Zoe's Monkey

I need to make Zoe a Bunny for her birthday (tomorrow!) but it's going to be late.  I needed a small break.

And hats... I used my family's Christmas presents as a chance to try out some ideas for hats to make for my shop I plan on opening soon.  The first one probably just seems weird to anyone not from Arkansas...  Razorback college football (and basketball) are huge around here.  I need to make some revisions, but this is what I like to call "The Mo-Hawg"



For my mother, I got inspired by the Stained Glass afghan I made a few years ago, and I turned it into a hat. 



Then, as I was making it, I thought it might make a really nice snowflake if I changed up the colors...  and my sister's hat was born:



And that's about it... I did make a mohawk hat for my brother-in-law, but I didn't get a picture of it.

I have so many ideas running around in my head to work on for my shop.  I'm excited.  =)  It'll probably take me a little bit to get it up and running, but I'll let you know!

I am going to do a mood blanket over the course of 2014.  I will go into it more later (I'm tired, can you tell?) but I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at what's to come:

Keeping busy...

I have quite a few things to show off, but I'm too lazy to upload them right now.  I have the next week off of work (WOOO!) so I promise I'll get them up soon.  I've been so busy the past few weeks, and I've loved every minute of it. 

Unfortunately, I haven't been working out, and that's something I need to remedy.  Next week I really have no excuses (although I'm sure I'll try to find a few) and I plan on getting back in the swing of things.  I had to bow out of my half-marathon tomorrow because I just haven't been able to train at all for a while.  First my diabetes made me feel like total poo, then I got sick, then we had an ice storm... I know I could walk 13.1 miles tomorrow, but I'd be in a world of pain for it.  I'm just going to suck it up and focus on my one in March.

As for day-to-day, I've let crochet take back over all my time.  I have to learn to balance it all, but I've been having so much fun.  Making dolls and hats... and decisions.  When I got into making my half-marathon hats, I had that spark ignite again to try to do something to make money with my hobby.  At first I thought about making up patterns, and I may do that some, but I've had people asking me to make them things left and right.  I made 3 hats for one coworker, need to make one for another coworker, and another friend asked me to make her a doll for her granddaughter's birthday after the New Year.  I have another coworker making a list of things she wants. 

So, I'm going to call it official.  I'm going to do custom dolls and hats.  And I also will make a lot of Christmas things and next Christmas do a booth at a craft fair... ornaments, elf dolls, garland, things like that.  I'm super stoked about it.  I don't anticipate making a ton of money or replacing my job (although wouldn't that be awesome?) but I love doing this and even if I'm not making a lot of money, I'll be enjoying it.  I had, a few years ago, tried to give this a bit of a go, but I wasn't very confident about it.  I think now is the time though to revive ZIO Creations.  =)

I have a lot of non-crochet details to work out in the next few weeks, but I'll be sure to let you all know about it.  =)

The project list grows...

I should be heading to bed, but I'm enjoying the fact that I don't have to work tomorrow and taking advantage of it.  =)

Unfortunately, I don't think we're doing anything Thanksgiving-y tomorrow.  Zoe is sick, I'm still a bit under the weather myself, just a cold, but we can't expose my parents to it.  It sucks, but what can you do? 

I will be spending the day cleaning and crocheting.  My project list is spinning out of control.  I have to put a stop to it.  I think I've taken on all I can now.  Here's what I have going on, in addition to my hat-a-week until my half marathon...

I just finished my Week 4 hat, which I'll show off Friday.  It's not all that exciting.  I mean, I think it's cute, but I had more exciting ideas.  I just needed one more blue hat, though and it was all I could make work for that.


A girl at work wants a Gonzo.  I don't have a real specific time frame.... but I spent the weekend making up the basic beanie part of some of my projects, so it's started.  Another girl at work has commissioned me to make a zombie hat for a friend of hers.  This is what I'm aiming for:




I have another hat I'm working on just because it's an idea that really excited me.  It probably won't make much sense to anyone who doesn't live in Arkansas, though.  But I think if - when - I start to sell hats, that it would be a good seller to locals.  I'll show it off when I finish it.

I'm working on a hat for my brother-in-law's Christmas present.  I hope it turns out OK... it's a combination of a few things he loves and pretty funky.... a Chicago Bears themed gecko mohawk hat.  You'll have to see it when it's done.  It's actually from a pattern.

Christmas presents for the girls.  Zoe is getting a topsy turvy Cinderella doll.  The kind where you flip the skirt and it looks different.  One side is the princess, one side is the maid.  I am to the skirt part of it, so it shouldn't be long before it's finished.  I'm using a pattern for this.

Isabelle wants a baby for Mr. and Mrs. Hobbes.  If you don't know, two years ago, I made her a Hobbes... from Calvin and Hobbes.  She loves Hobbes, even though she really doesn't know who he is.  Last Christmas, she asked for a friend for Hobbes.  I wanted to make Calvin, naturally, but she informed me it needed to be a GIRL Hobbes.  So Mrs. Hobbes came to be.  Now they're going to have a baby.  I haven't figured out exactly how I'll do this, but I will.

I had found a doll pattern for Olivia.... just a run-of-the-mill doll.  Then I put the movie Arthur and the Invisibles on the other day and she's been obsessed with it ever since.  She told me what she wanted for Christmas was a Selenia doll.  If you've never seen the movie, this is Selenia....



I've only improvised one human amigurimi type doll before, so this should be an experience.   However, this isn't the only improvised human doll I have on tap.... and not the strangest.

I need to make President Grover Cleveland.  This is for a school project for Olivia.  She has a research project and one of the things she needs, for some bizarre reason, is a doll of her chosen President.  So, I thought, why not just crochet it?  Believe it or not, I actually know someone who has a little boy who would love a stuffed President doll, so when the project is graded, I'll send her the doll for her son.

I think that's it.  I think.  I hope.  =)  I have yarn all over the place.... in-progress projects in bags here and there.  It's nuts.  I go from barely crocheting all year to trying to squeeze in a year's worth of work into a few weeks.  I'm a glutton. 

Half Marathon Hats, Week 3

I so love my newest hat.  I love it so much I don't even mind the obvious jokes about it (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you have a very sparkly, clean mind!)  So without further ado.... I present to you....



The Great Gonzo!

I was really worried about the nose... making sure it curved and all, but it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  I also was concerned about the eyelids, but I think they turned out pretty well, too.



I left it on the lamp like that and Bill was startled by him when he walked in there in the dark.  That just makes the hat all the more awesome!  He wouldn't look at me this morning when I had it on.  =)

I took it to work and even had someone request that I make them one!  Woo hoo!

The girls aren't crazy about it. Zoe said, "I like it a little bit, but not a lot."

I have one more blue-themed hat before November ends.  I also have to finish up my three turkey hats before Thursday.  Make another Gonzo.  And I got the stuff to get started on my brother-in-law's Christmas present (a blue and orange mohawk hat with a twist...).  I've had two really fun ideas for hats the past two days.  I need to write this stuff down so I don't forget.  I love it when the creativity is flowing!

I have been feeling a little under the weather this week, and the cold finally hit full-force last night.  Blah.  I hate being sick.  I need to get it to run its course quickly so I can be well by Thanksgiving.

If I don't make it back here before then, I hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day!  I am oh, so grateful for each and every one of  you that read this, whether or not you comment! 

Hooked again...

I totally forgot to come show you last week's hat. 



It's not the best picture, but it's all I have.  It's just a mohawk hat.  It's not the hat I had planned, but the yarn I got for it wasn't working out right.  This is actually one I started - goodness - a year or so ago?  The fuzzy yarn was a pain to work with and I gave up on it, but it worked with my blue color scheme, so I tried again.  It's a little too small for my head.  I think I was making it for the girls.  I didn't actually run in it.  It was raining Sunday and I'm a total lazy bum lately.  Really need to stop that.

My turkey hats for the Go!bbler Run on Thanksgiving with my sister and her friend are coming along.



Those legs kill me, I have to say.  So funny. 

I won't tell you what this week's hat is going to be, but I will tell you that it's probably my most favorite creation to date.  Seriously.  I've wanted to make this hat for a long time and it's turning out better than I had hoped.  I can't wait to show you.  I'll show you the yarn.  Maybe you can guess...



It is a character hat and it has a 3D element to it.  That's all I'm giving you right now.

I have a goal of not using any patterns for any of these hats.  I have a few that will be tricky to make them look just like I want since there is an actual pattern that exists that I like, but we will see how I do.  Today I was browsing Pinterest and Etsy for some ideas for some of my future hats and realized that I really do love this and the old desire to actually do something with this hobby is creeping back up.  Pattern making, custom hats... I'm not exactly sure where I would go with it, but improvising these hats is just too much fun - especially this week's.   We'll see what happens...