This sweater is taking far longer than it should. All that stockinette should have gone like a breeze, and all in all it probably would have if I didn’t have to fight to keep a toddler out of my lap (or keep him from trying to “help”). For what it’s worth, my kid has his own knitting – a dishcloth project in progress that didn’t have much yarn left to tangle up – but what mama works on looks more fun, I guess? I not-so-secretly love that he wants to knit, though, and hope this keeps up as he gets older but I’m trying to keep my dreams in check…

A photo posted by @candiceknits on May 29, 2016 at 11:58am PDT Stitch by stitch I’ve muddled my way through the beginning of the pattern and am on the chart now for the sweet little rabbit yoke. And by “muddled” I mean that I read the directions, re-read the directions, looked up on Ravelry to see if there were any helpful notations on other projects, scoured for pictures to figure out WTF the button band at the neck was supposed to look like, read the directions for a third time, and then proceeded with caution because not only have I been brain-dead after work this week, I’m also a generally un-trusting person…

… because it isn’t like I don’t already have 5 other projects I should probably be working on/finishing. This is what happens, though, when you get your little minimalist dream in the form of a work uniform which then kills your desire to knit for yourself because you’ll only get to wear any sweater you make (at most) 2.7 days out of the week during winter and you already have a full sock drawer.

I think I discovered the key to minimizing your life… and that key is a toddler. For years and years I had glorious free time. And in that free time, I was free to do whatever I damn well pleased. Which is why half our back yard is taken up with garden, I have a pantry full of canning equipment, a spinning wheel, more yarn than I really need, fabric stash to nearly match, etc. Free time meant I needed to fill it with something… and fill it I did. Now that I have a toddler, I have less time for hobbies. Or cleaning. Or thinking, really. What I’d rather…

Green, on the left, dyed with a ratio of 4 drops yellow to 1 green, with some of the darker bits 4 yellow to 1 blue. The teal in the middle was 4 blue to 1 green. The rainbow on the end, or “unicorn fart” as my friend Stephanie named it, was dyed with kool-aid on just one small chunk.

For Christmas I made my knitting friends little knitting bags. I made enough to basically have the construction concept memorized, so when I decided to make a smaller version for a Ravelry swap I’m in I basically winged it. 4″x6″ pieces of fabric and fusible fleece, a zipper, notching 1″ squares out of the corners… piece of cake, right? I mean, I’ve made at least 5 of these already so sizing the pattern down is no big deal. Except it WAS a big deal. Let me tell you: making this bag was a little like childbirth. In the beginning it was fun and exciting. “Little itsy bitsy bag for postage…

My life is going to get a little busier these next few weeks as I go back to full time employment. Which means the sudden urge to craft has hit me since I’ll be losing my Mondays at home with Declan and my nap time craft time. I’m kicking my weekend off with some yarn dyeing. 4 skeins of this yarn have lingered in my stash. I have a plan for a gift but not enough time to knit it. But since these friends are knitters,  too, hand dyed yarn seems more like a perfect alternative. Stay tuned for how this process turns out. Hopefully I can capture some good…

I’ve taken up my 5k training again. Week 3 already. You know what sucks? Well, besides the 3 minutes of running and thinking your going to die, I mean. What sucks is knowing that 4 years ago you did this before, and then life and babies happened and now I’m back to starting over. I’ve lost what I earned and it blows. But I’m armed with new shoes (and new/smaller running pants! Healthy eating for the win!) and music loud enough to drown out my breathing. I’m going to get through it, even if I have to bribe myself with a beer at the end of each run.