Not sure what it is about January ...

... but I get this overwhelming urge every year at this time to finish things and/or reduce stash.  I'm almost finished the ill-chosen Olympic project from a year ago, the fabrics I cut out last week are now in 15x15 blocks ready to be sewn together, I'm thinking of digging out a cable sweater that generally sees spurts of energy and then gets put aside for several months only to have the pattern repeat itself again.

I'm committed to rolling over my austerity initiative into February so think that there is hope of actually achieving some shelf space freedom someday soon.  I did have to relax my rules slightly in January because my iPod was stolen and I decided I really, really, really need another one.  So technically, not discretionary since it is a necessity, right?

Otherwise, I have been very well behaved.  I have had a real desire to take a trip up to Lettuce Knit at lunch on a few different occasions but have resisted.  Lettuce Knit is just close enough for me to take an hour out of my day to visit but just far enough from the office not to be too convenient.  When I'm having a particularly stressful crazy day, I do like to go there to get away from it all.  January has been quite stressful and crazy at work so the call of the store has been hard to resist.  But the January desire to get stuff done has prevailed and since I know if I go there I will buy something, I haven't gone.

We'll see if this mood lasts long enough to at least get that one shelf freed up.

Happiness is ...

While I won't call it the new yoga or anything like that, starting a new project makes me happy and relaxed.  All of those lovely fabrics spread out on the table.  The pattern or idea decided upon.  Then the  cutting (my personal favourite part of quilting other than having the finished product hanging on a quilt rack).  It is too early in the project to have made a mistake (unless, of course, you forget the old adage of measure twice, cut once).

The fabrics for this quilt are all Erin McMorris.  I randomly collect fat quarters and didn't actually realize I was collecting her fabrics until I was sorting through the stash and noticed I had a number that looked a bit similar.  Surprisingly no duplicates.  I guess she appeals to me.

It just goes to show ...

... that when you don't know what the heck you are doing, ask someone who does and, miraculously, frustrations can melt away!  A few posts ago, I wrote about this quilt (on the left) that was giving me a very hard time.  I couldn't figure out how to get the points of the diamonds to line up.  Kristen's mother told her to tell me that there was a trick.  So off I went to my local quilt shop (Quilter's Garden Patch in Oakville) where I learned that, yes, there is a trick and it is really obvious.  It's one of those obvious things that I probably should have been able to come up with myself but I have an amazing inability to think when it comes to sewing.  I like quilting because the sewing is generally straight lines.  Throw something else at me and I require extensive hand holding.

Since I was distracted by Christmas knitting, I didn't get back to the quilt until this week.  I carefully pinned the corners the way Janet at the store told me to and, voila!, I'm finished.  From the half-finished version several posts ago to being done, done, done, in a few hours!!!

I really like the finished product.  There are still some uneven diamonds because I decided I could live with that.  The fabrics are busy enough that it isn't obvious unless you look really closely.  It's a twin-sized quilt which will be a great addition to my pile of quilts for snuggling on the couch.  Now I just have to decide how to quilt it.  In the ditch or stipple.  Or splurge and have it done.  It remains to be seen.  For now, I'm going to start working on another top and think about the quilting later.

And the bread baking went pretty well too.  The two flatter loaves at the top are made with oats, bran, wheat germ and I think will be great for toast.  I only have 3 loaf pans so decided to make them free form.  If I make them again, I'll go with the loaf pans.  On the second rise, they really just spread out.

The loaves at the front are a rye, whole wheat (because I didn't have enough rye), caraway seed combo that should be great for sandwiches.  I'll be trying some of one or both with dinner tonight.  The little crumbs of the oat/bran combo were pretty tasty and, of course, the house smells great!

I Love Winter!

Over the last few weeks, we've finally seen a decent amount of snow.  I'm one of those people who believe that if you are going to have winter, you need to have snow.  It doesn't have to be a lot ... I do need to get to work and the commuting is never smooth with lots of snow ... but we should have some.  I love shoveling the driveway.  I don't even mind wearing boots.  And the best thing, when I leave the house before the sun comes up, the snow makes the world seem less dark.

On the January austerity program front, I have actually finished a couple of projects.  I made these booties for a guy at work whose wife is having a baby any day, at the latest tomorrow according to the doctor.  I made them with leftover sock yarn and some of the 9 million buttons taking up space in my cupboards.  Button collecting was clearly a hobby of many generations of my family and I've inherited them all.  All very utilitarian but oh so many.  I feel quite excited when I use some but its like taking, in this case,  4 grains of sand from a very long beach!

Another finished project is the lovely Monkey Sock that everyone who knits socks and is on Ravelry has or is making.  It is actually quite a nice pattern (although not sure where Monkey comes from - the designer probably tells why in the intro but that would actually require me to read it) and knits up surprisingly fast.  The best thing, I made these a bit longer than suggested by the pattern and have an extremely small amount of yarn left.  Just enough to darn the heels if I pop through them someday.  Perfect!

I also finished a cowl/scarf thing from the winter Debbie Bliss magazine.

Right now, I'm waiting for 2 kinds of bread to rise.  I think one is ready to go in the oven.  In fact, there goes the timer now.

My Self Imposed Austerity Program

So I've got an austerity program in place for January.  I would say that it isn't really about saving money (although this is, of course, an excellent result) but more about using the food in the freezer and the pantry and finishing some projects of the knitting and quilting variety.  So I decided, $100 a week in discretionary spend (which includes groceries but obviously bills get paid and vet costs are covered).

So far, it is partially working.  The $100 goal has been dead easy.  Surprisingly easy.  I think this week will be a bit more challenging because we're starting to run out of staples but I have underspent in the first 2 weeks so it should be okay.  I'm emptying the freezer and using stuff in the pantry.  I'm baking bread and eating all of the veggies instead of having to toss because I bought too much.  All good.

The part that hasn't worked as well is project completion.  While I've made some progress, I have been distracted by the loan of a turntable that converts records to MP3s.  I have thrown myself into this project and it has completely overtaken my craft table.  So I might have to extend this ban on buying into February to meet the second half of the objective.

It is funny digging out old records.  I don't even remember some of the bands and singers.  Several were one-hit wonders, for sure.  I also can't believe some of the songs I remember thinking were so great in the 80s.  The project is taking a while but not as long as expected as I come to the realization that my teen music tastes were not as outstanding as I remember and I don't need to convert the entire record collection.   Some stuff is better left hidden in the basement.

People Who Expect Knitted Gifts

Don't you just love them?  My niece, who is 7, still expects to get a sweater for Christmas.  This made me so glad since I had raced to get this one, Morado, done in time to give it to her.  It was one of those - down-to-the-wire, will it fit, has she gotten to the point where she thinks I'm the crazy aunt who knits sweaters instead of buying those cool jeans that everyone at school is wearing - situations.

But when she opened it, she had a huge smile and put it on immediately without any prompting from anyone.  Her mother told me that my niece said before we got together to celebrate the holidays that she was hoping I had made her a sweater!  It really doesn't get any better than that.

The cat with the kidney problem continues to provide fun and excitement.  She now needs intravenous fluids twice a week that we give her at home.  Our first go at it was successful in the end but resulted in further mental trauma to the cat and to us.  Did she squirm or yell at the vet when he was giving us the lesson ... no.  Did the needle go in first try at the vet ... of course.  After squirming, yelling and several jabs with the needle, fluid leaking all over her fur, we managed to make it happen.  She was not happy.  I immediately called my sister-in-law, a nurse, and bribed her with dinner to help us the second time.  A much smoother event.  Hopefully we and the cat will get comfortable with this soon or we are going to have to be feeding a lot of nurses who like cats!

And the Vet said that it would be soooo easy

Our cat has a kidney problem - losing weight and had bad scores on her test.  Since we've had 2 cats with kidney issues in the past, we pretty much know how it goes and are sad.

The vet does want to rule out an infection though so we had to get a urine sample.  A clean, not in the regular litter box, urine sample.  It's easy, the vet said, just lock her in a bathroom and show her the box like you would a kitten - no problem.  Well that didn't work.  She just waited until we let her out to eat and then snuck down to the regular box.

This morning, I followed her downstairs when she was headed that way and put the sample box inside the regular one.  This was a brilliant plan, I thought.  Not so the cat, who clearly had to use the litter box but crossed her legs and left in disgust.

Next brilliant plan, let her go in the regular litter box but hold something under her butt and collect the sample.  Excellent.  Dropped her in the box for this process and again, she crossed her legs and left in disgust.

So the better half suggests locking her in the bathroom again with the sample box.  Obviously she has to go and we will have success this time.  After an hour, we go check and .... not a chance.

Finally, after stalking her around the house,  I used brilliant plan #2 and got a sample.  The ladies at the vet were impressed by my method.  They said I did it the hard way - yeah right.  I'm just hoping the cat doesn't have bathroom issues now.  I'm pretty sure she won't use the litter box when I'm in the room anymore!