A Whole Lotta Stash Busting Is Required!

Yarn Mountain was commissioned for the Festival of Love 2015 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London Summer 2015. It was part of LOVE the YARN: Lasmin Salmon in collaboration with Celia Pym.

I am actually thinking that my yarn stash would make a bigger yarn mountain than the actual Yarn Mountain! 

I have been watching Retro Claude on Youtube, in particular her stash busting series. Stash busting has been a regular theme here and although I am knitting through my yarn, I am also adding to it. Simple maths will tell you what is happening here! 
So I decided to import my yarn stash to a spreadsheet so I could actually total up the meterage and grams in my stash. And wow, that was an eye opener! Despite the fact that I can look on Ravelry and see that I have quite a few pages of stash, it is not until you add it up in cold hard figures that you get the full picture. And it is a lot! A lot, a lot! 

 Ok, am I brave enough to expose my embarrassingly large stash? Don't get me wrong, I love my stash; it is just that I know some people will find it excessive and wonder how I could ever actually use it. Believe me, I wonder that as well! 

Well, here goes! 
I just have the total for all yarns - all fibre types, all weights, everything mixed together in one total. It would be another whole exercise to divide them out into categories - maybe a task for another day.

Total metres of yarn I currently own: 365,429.9 mtrs

Total grams of yarn I currently own: 116,465 gms

See why stash busting must become a priority?! 
I am also needing to pull my belt much tighter due to future potential financial changes, so no more buying for me - no more books, no more yarn, no more cross stitch, no more fabric. Stash busting or its equivalent is required across all these categories - so there will be more to come on each of these as well. 

A long post to say, let's get knitting! 

Stitching And Other Updates

 Joining in today with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.

The only stitching/crafting I have worked on this week is cross stitching. I have completed one of my WIPGO goals for January, having stitched 14 hours on the 2020 Pandemic Sampler (a free pattern by Sarcy Gurl that you are still able to get here).

My progress at the beginning of January, before the WIPGO call.

My progress after 14 hours of stitching - WIPGO call completed.

I am only halfway to my 14 hour goal on Lavender and Lace's Ice Angel. It just requires more concentration so I have found I cannot stitch on it with a house full of kids. Summer school holidays finish in a few days, so many I can squeeze in a little more time before February starts. Progress photo to come! 


I have also found a fabulous year long free stitching challenge that I think will be amazing for motivation. It is hosted by Creatively Crafting and is very simply called Free Cross Stitch Challenge.
I did invest in their PDF printable planner as I do like to have a printed version of all the challenges and planning pages to mark off physically. And being a PDF, I can just print off the pages I need. I am not fussed on the aesthetic so have designed my own more primitive/vintage cover on Canva. But it has all the planning pages I will need for 2023! 

As January is pretty much over, I will start the challenges in February. You can join the free challenge without purchasing the planner. The link to the challenge page will be emailed to you before the beginning of each month. 
What I like about this challenge is that none of the squares are too difficult or daunting to achieve - ticking off little steps always seems more rewarding and it all adds up in the end. 

For example, some of January's challenges include:

* Stitch with your favourite drink
* Stitch 50 stitches
* Stitch with dark blue
* Stitch a snowflake
* Stitch on a Friday

All the little challenges are super achievable and I feel it will be very motivating to have lots of opportunities to tick challenges off the list. 
There is also a points system for number of stitches completed. I find accumulating points very motivating as well. It must be that I am just a competitive person?! 
Speaking of competitive, maybe I can get a few of January's out of the way quickly before month end?! I need to do some ticking! 

Walking wise, my street view has remained the same for the last few days - the ferry terminal at Dover.

I am currently 'walking' across the English Channel and surprisingly there are no street views along the way! 

Hope you have been getting some crafting or other fun stuff done this week! 

2023 - The Year To Get Stuff Done!

Again, I have been away for AGES - why does this always happen?!

I have started a new job and it is keeping me very busy. After being a SAHM for 25 years, it is taking a little getting used to juggling all the housework, kids' stuff and work.

But I still want 2023 to be the year of getting stuff done. All those languishing WIPs, project plans that I really want to make but never quite got to, books I have been meaning to read for ages, organising the spare (aka junk) room, all the things! 

So let's roll up our sleeves and get to it! 

Knitting

I will be continuing on with my 35c earned per 10g knitted rule. Believe me, there is no way in this world that I need any more yarn, so I may allow my 'earnings' in different categories to be spent across any of the categories. 
It is 38 degrees C here today (100F) so knitting is not really on my mind today! But autumn/winter will be on us soon, thank goodness, and then the real knitting can begin.
And I will continue, slowly, slowly, with my vintage knitting, in particular from Stitchcraft magazines. 

Quilting

While I do not have any specific earning goals for quilting, I certainly have projects that I would like to finish and fabric stash that needs to be used up. Some of this fabric will sneak on over to the cross stitch category to use as finishes. And I really want to make some project bags using Elizabethanncanstitch's Youtube tutorial.

Cross Stitch

Again, I will be continuing on with previous earnings projects for cross stitch, using the guidelines from the Stitch From Stash Facebook group. 
I will also be participating in WIPGO, hosted by Jessie Marie Does Stuff  (this link will take you to the How To WIPGO video).

I do not have enough WIPs (in cross stitch, anyway!) to fill all the squares on the board once, so have chosen to add projects multiple times. Hopefully this will lead to at least a few finishes in 2023.

I will be working on each project for 14 hours in the month it is called.
So January's calls were squares 6 and 10 - the 2020 Pandemic Sampler by Sarcygurl and Ice Angel by Lavender and Lace. 
Ice Angel is one of my oldest WIPs. I couldn't say exactly how long I have been working on this. Let's just say, the last time I remember stitching on it was when I was in hospital for the birth of my oldest son and he turned 18 last year! It needs to be finished! 

This is my progress as at the beginning of January on the 2020 Pandemic Sampler.

And for Ice Angel.

Let's see how far 14 hours of stitching on each can get me! 

I picked up these planners from Amazon (using Christmas gift money) to help keep me on track. 

Reading

I have a ridiculously high Goodreads goal this year - feel free to friend me over there. 

I would like to focus on more Australian authors and nonfiction this year as well as continuing with my reading from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Peter Boxall. 

I participate in a number of reading challenge groups as I always like a list or prompt to follow! 

Walking

Not a crafty goal but I am finding this to be a lot of fun and quite motivating. I found this free app (or you can use it on your computer) called World Walking. It links to the health app on my iPhone so I can add my steps for the day to my chosen walk. 
And always one to take on the biggest challenge, I have of course chosen to 'walk' from London to Lapland! 
It is fun as you can look at a street view of where you are currently (except for when you are crossing an ocean!) as well as follow on the map. 

As you can see, this will take a while! My movement is hardly registering on the map but I am almost at Canterbury. Looking forward to reaching Dover and heading across to the Dunkirk Ferry Terminal. 

You can also set up walking groups, so you can walk with friends.

I may walk Transylvania next - after I make it to Lapland! 

So that is some of what I have planned for 2023 - I will expand on each section soon. I am attempting to publish two blog posts a week - fingers crossed! 

Happy crafting, reading, walking, or whatever you have planned! 

I'm All About The Numbers!

 2021 is time for a reset. It seems as though lots of people changed their habits in 2020 - and why wouldn’t we?! It was the craziest year I’ve ever experienced! And now is the time for some changes.

With us all at home so much, I think we may have reacquainted ourselves with our home spaces and what is in our home. And for many, this had led to some reevaluating. 

I certainly already knew I had a lot of craft stash but still I kept adding to it. Why was that? Some of it was the ‘I deserve a treat’ mentality; some of it was me not being able to resist a sale/bargain; some of it was watching YouTube and seeing all the things other people buy - yes, a bit of the ugly green monster of envy was definitely there! 

So I had already been thinking about this a lot when I came across Hand Me My Knitting’s YouTube video about her no-buy year and new Patreon group. I know it seems counterintuitive to pay to join a no-buy group 😬, but it has been a fabulous support and well worth it.

Anyway enough of that! Let’s get down to business! 

I do love a spreadsheet and some number crunching, so have borrowed a few ideas to help me quantify my no-buy, knit and stitch from stash year.

Let's clarify this from the start - a complete no-buy was not going to work! Total denial was just going to make me want to rebel!  

So I have set up a tracking system (told you I love number crunching!) which will keep track of how much yarn I knit and fabric I use, etc.

I also love having notebooks rather than it all being on the computer. I think it is a lovely visual reminder of the year as well as a valuable resource to look back at. I will not abandon Ravelry, of course, even though it is quite daunting to see just how much yarn is in my stash (and it isn’t all on there yet!)

So basically my idea is that I will ‘earn’ spending money depending on what I use up. 

For knitting, I have just set the rate of 35c per 10g knitted. I know this sounds like next to nothing but I wanted to make it about a quarter or less of the equivalent cost of yarn. Otherwise the stash would not decrease! 

For cross stitch, I have borrowed a costing idea from a Facebook group called Stitch From Stash. I won’t outline it here as it is not my idea to share but you earn different amounts based on the stitch count of the finished design. 

I have yet to work out a calculation for quilting. 

So I will do a monthly wrap up at the end of each month, detailing my ‘earnings’ and spending. 

Is anyone else doing a no or less buy year? Maybe you are drowning in stash, like I am, and it is time to fall back in love with what you already have? I’d love to hear your plans, goals and experiences! 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Joining today with Diary of a Stay At Home Mom for Happy Homemaker Monday.

The weather

Cool and grey - same old, same old! It hasn't been raining so I have been able to get outside and do some weeding. That is one problem with it not getting very cold in winter here - the weeds never stop growing!

Right now I am

Plotting and planning! I really want to sort out my vintage items so I can open a second Etsy shop. I have been going to and fro with this idea and have read any number of blog posts about the pros and cons of having a second Etsy shop. But I think it is the best way.

Thinking

Probably see above answer! What will be the best items to have in my shop?

On my reading pile

Today is the first day of the Visit Hogsmeade reading challenge (it runs 22-28 June), so I have quite a lot on my reading pile! This will, of course, be much too ambitious but I still like to choose a book for each category.

The categories are as follows:

1. The Marauder's Map - read a book with a map - The Way Home by Julian Barr

2. Three Broomsticks Inn - read a book that is part of a trilogy - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I have wanted to reread the trilogy for ages before I pick up The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

3. Madam Puddifoot's Tea and Cakes - start a book with a cup of tea - Houses of Stone by Barbara Michaels. This is an easy one as it could be any book I read; I always have my tea with me! This book was recommended to me and it sounds SO good. It has all the good things! 

4. Hog's Head - not the most popular (less than 10,000 ratings on Goodreads) - A Robot In The Garden by Deborah Install (has 1,858 ratings)

5. Honeydukes - has sweets/baked goods on the cover - Meet Me At The Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan. Pretty sure I have read this before but Jenny Colgan is always a fun, relaxing read.

6. Zonko's Tricks and Jokes - a humorous read - Christmas At Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

7. The Shrieking Shack - read a horror or thriller - The Woman In Black by Susan Hill

8. Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop - book written by a person of colour - The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

9. Owl Post - book you got via post - Transcription by Kate Atkinson

10. Dervish and Banges - steampunk read - The Bullet Catcher's Daughter by Rod Duncan

As you can see, I have no hope of reading all these in a week. But I will give it my best shot! 

The only rule is you must read your Marauder's Map book first as the map allows you to sneak out of Hogwarts and begin your visit to Hogsmeade!

The challenge is hosted by Book Roast. You can see the Youtube video explaining the challenge here. 

On my TV

I have been rewatching Glee over the last month or two. Yes, I am a Gleek!

I am now up to the final season and I never did enjoy this one or the fifth season as much as the others. This one has got slightly crazy, what with Sue Sylvester and her crazy doll figurine!

I do like rewatching series so I will have to decide which one I would like to head to next - maybe Doc Martin or The Crown or Victoria or Poldark or Pride and Prejudice? So many to choose from! 

I also watched Win The Wilderness, which is a reality series where couples compete to win a wilderness property in Alaska. The owners of the property are such an inspiration. The last episode, where they had to leave the home they had built, had me tearing up. I cannot imagine leaving a place that you had put so much into. 

Favourite blog post from last week

It would have to be Jes' May Newsletter over at Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth. It is just so great to have her back, sharing with us!  

Something fun to share

Not my cat, but I do have a black and white boy like this one. He has mismatched paw pads - some are pink, some are black. 

On the menu

I definitely need to get back to proper meal planning. Hopefully this weekly post will help me do that!

I am moving on to my next book in the 'actually use my cookbooks' project - The River Cottage Australia Cookbook, which I think is now out of print.

The original River Cottage TV series was one of my first inspirations.  I cannot believe how long ago that was! 

On my to do list

The big job on my to do list this week was to clean out the chicken pen completely. And I did it today! The chooks will be happy with their new deep straw. But guess who was even happier?! Flash very quickly found the straw and has happily set himself up in there, much to the chooks' disgust.

In the craft basket

My current three projects: 

Pool Party Leg Warmers

Naptime Doll

With Angora Tie - from my Adventures In Stitchcraft project

 

Looking forward to this week

Hopefully having lots of time for reading!

Looking around the house

I spent some time last week sorting out the piles of paper that had accumulated on one end of the dining table. It looks much tidier now!

I am also looking at my pile of knitting project bags. Each has a WIP that I need to make a decision about. 

From the camera

Two sets of triplets were born this week. Lambies are so cute!

Inspirational quote

This is some inspiration for myself at the moment.

I want to push myself to live the life I have always wanted to. I was watching Win the Wilderness and the owner of the house said something along the lines of being so glad that they built the house and had the time they had there as it is better to have taken a chance and at least tried rather than not doing it and always regretting it. 

Looking forward to a lovely week! 

Homemaking This Week Was . . . . . .

Obviously, we must begin with a cute granddaugter photo. I cannot wait to see them again! I love how little Willow has her Rosie the Riveter look going on! That turban is too cute! 

The new, very loose schedule is working well. It has been particularly helpful to give myself a blogging limit as I can very easily get lost down the rabbit hole and spends WAY too long looking at blogs. I want to see them all!

The morning tea projects is also working well. I finished one of the projects from last week, the Waiting For Winter beanie. 

My daughter chose this fur pom pom to top it off. It came from Lovely Loops Designs on Etsy. You can get any colour of pom pom here!

This week's three projects are now:

1. Pool Party leg warmers 

2. With Angora Tie jumper - from my Adventures In Stitchcraft project

3. And adding in the Naptime Doll. This pattern is in a cute book I own called Knitted Toys by Tatyana Korobkova. This book has so many adorable patterns. I want to knit them all, just to sit them on my bookshelves!

The Big Project of cleaning out and organising the pantry was not completed this week. Terrible failing on my part as I had  the time blocked out for it. I used all the allocated time but still didn't get it done! It will certainly be organised by next week.

My one recipe a week this week was from Chicken and Egg. I made Warm Village Salad. It was easy and delicious! Not very challenging, I admit, but hey, I need some quick and simple recipes that everyone will like.

I love these multicoloured cherry tomatoes. I want to plan to grow a few different varieties next summer to have my own!

The pantry assignment this week from A Working Pantry's boot camp was to make at least one meal that can be frozen for future consumption. I do normally do this but at the moment my freezer is overflowing! We received lamb from two different farmer friends recently and now there is a lot of lamb in the freezer! But every week I make some spaghetti sauce to freeze for the next week, so in that went. I will often make pizza bases to freeze too. 

How has your homemaking week gone? 

Getting Organised

As I mentioned previously, I really need to kick start my routine again, or modify it to fit our changed life.

I have been using Rhonda's (Down To Earth blog) wonderful books to help me along as well as the homemaking posts at Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth. I continued to use the fabulous resources on this blog while Jes was away, but I was so happy to see a few days ago that Jes is back! I look forward to seeing what other lovely ideas she has for us.

So here is a very rough schedule for the moment. I will keep playing with it over time, but this will certainly keep everything ticking along nicely.

Monday

Grocery shopping, post office, library, other town errands 1.5 hours

Morning tea projects 0.5 hour

Blog 0.5 hour

Vaccuum 0.5 hour

Mop 0.5 hour

Gardening 1 hour

Total of 4.5 hours

Tuesday

Morning tea projects 0.5 hour

Blog 0.5 hour

Bathroom 1 hour

Baking 1 hour

Etsy shop 1 hour

Big Projects 2 hours

Total of 6 hours

Wednesday

Morning tea projects 0.5 hour

Blog 0.5 hour

Dusting 0.5 hour

Vaccuum 0.5 hour

Clean fridge 0.5 hour

Gardening 1 hour

Big Projects 2 hours

Total of 5.5 hours

Thursday

Shopping, post office, library, other town errands 1.5 hours

Morning tea projects 0.5 hour

Blog 0.5 hour

Etsy shop 1 hour

Big Projects 2 hours

Total of 5.5 hours

Friday

Morning tea projects 0.5 hour

Blog 0.5 hour

Vaccuum 0.5 hour

Baking 1 hour

Etsy shop 1 hour

Gardening 2 hours

Total of 5.5 hours

I haven't included here all the everyday things that just tick along. Such as, I do laundry every day, obviously cook dinner every day, wipe over the bathroom every morning. I am just trying to have a bit more structure as I can tend to wander aimlessly, thinking what should I do now. Hopefully this will help me!

A few ideas that I have included are:

Morning Tea Project Time - Every day, 10.30 to 11.00, will be morning tea time. A cup of tea and three projects to work on for 10 minutes each. This way, I will be sure to work on a few things consistently every day. I will then choose one project that will be my TV/nighttime project for that day. This will, of course, get more time spent on it so I will rotate these around. It may not always be knitting. I am hoping to get out some embroidery and cross stitch projects that have been languishing as well.

These are the three I am working on this week. You have seen them before!

Hopefully I will get some finished quickly so that they will change at least a little each week!

Big Projects - I will focus on one big project at a time until it is finished. This is definitely an area in which I come unstuck, with half finished jobs being left. First up in this category will be to empty and inventory my pantry spaces. As they are spread out in different places, it is hard to know exactly what I have.

I am ashamed to but I will show you my pantries, as they are!

These two cupboards live in two opposite corners of the dining room, just wherever I could fit them in. They are just cheap flatpack cupboards so the shelves are bowing a bit under the weight!

I also have pantry items stored up in the top cupboards in the kitchen. But as we have twelve feet ceilings, you can imagine these are pretty high up! I cannot reach unless I stand on the benchtop or use a ladder!

So let's see how I can neaten these up a bit!

For cooking/new dinner ideas, I am adding the Recipe Book project - I read this post at Stay Home Instead recently. It really struck a chord with me when she said that recipe books aren't meant to just look lovely on her shelves, but "I believe you are actually supposed to cook from them".

Hmmm, I am definitely guilty of this! I have a terrible habit of borrowing cookbooks from the library and bookmarking the recipes I like. If there are quite a few, I think to myself that I may as well buy the book.

But as you can see, I have quite a few - more than will fit in the shelves in fact!

And then I have my homesteading book shelf, many of which include recipes.

Anyway, Fiona's idea is to cook through her cookbooks. What a great idea! :)

I am planning to choose a book each week and make one recipe from it. I am only committing to one recipe per week so I will actually do it! I may, of course, revisit books. Plus I have my vintage recipe project, cooking from each issue of Stitchcraft as part of Adventures In Stitchcraft.

I do tend to cook the same things as it is simply easier to cook what I know the boys like. But I think they can do with some broadening of their culinary horizons!

This week's book is Chicken and Egg, which seems to now be out of print. It is a book written by a backyard chicken owner so all the recipes are designed to use eggs (and chicken, as eventually you may need to cull). I have six hens at the moment, which is the lowest number I have had in ages. I lost eight hens to a fox just before COVID and haven't been able to replace them. Maybe I should hatch some? I haven't done that for a few years and it is so enjoyable.

I am drooling over some of the dessert recipes - Pumpkin Spice Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce, anyone?! Check back next week to see what I make! 

Please let me know if you have any other good tips for me! 

Let's Talk Routine

Routine - do you have one? 

We have all seen those blog posts and Youtube videos about 'I lived for a day/week/month as a 1950s housewife'. Google it and thousands of entries come up.

And while we may not want to follow all the advice from 1950s manuals, I do appreciate the routine chores lists that these manuals contain. 

As I'm sure is the case for many others, my routine has undergone a few alterations in these crazy times. And I have been somewhat lax in establishing a new one. My primary focus has been the boys' schooling so I have pretty much been fitting my other chores in around this. Which has been fine - everyone has been fed, has clean clothes and bedding and a relatively clean house. But it is the 'extras' that have been dropped from the routine - don't even look at the ceiling fans! Lucky it is winter and we are not using them or they would just fling dust at people! 

When I used to homeschool 'officially', I was much more organised, I promise! But as this was just a temporary arrangement, I decided to go with the flow somewhat and not stress too much about the deep cleaning. 

My other problem is that I am a ditherer, a procrastinator. If I do not have a list to 'tell' me what to do, I tend to jump from one thing to the next and not settle down to actually achieving anything. 

So now it is time for a revamp of the routine to make sure I can fit everything in.

Here is what I am wondering - I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

• Do you do one activity per day or spread them out over the five days so there is a little bit of something on each day?
• Do you schedule your own 'fun' activities, such as reading or crafting, to make sure there is a spot for them? Or just hope you can fit them in the little extra pockets of time?

I am definitely a proponent of meal planning. I definitely find that the days run much smoother if I have meals planned out and do not have to think about them every day. 

Maybe not these 1950s meals though! 

And I need to fit in at least one day a week to work on my Etsy shop. Luckily I do this from home so I can fit in other things around it.

So this week I will take a look around the house and make some lists. And check out some of the many vintage cleaning routines online and see what I can pull together. 

How have your routines been during these crazy times? (my official term for that which must not be named!)