Monday 1 September 2008

Off to pastures anew

Well not exactly but I have started a new blog GlamGirl Knits also on blogger but I wanted to have the complete package - so my name matches the title and stuff like that. This one will keep going as I might find a use for it or I might not and will delete it, don't think that there is anything earth shattering here

Tuesday 26 August 2008

Okay - a new day

Right - I have been in a bit of a hole recently and just couldn't find a way out of it. Money problems hit a head last week and things were down right depressing. The hole of being deep in debt seems never ending - living almost hand to mouth to make sure that bills are paid and then getting hit by bank charges whenever I miscalculated and went overdrawn. Then having to find a way to pay the bank charges whilst not getting overdrawn again. I was just reacting to the money thing and this left no time to think about other things.

But you can make a choice, in fact you have to make a choice. Do you want your life to be ruled by things and you just react to them or even worse just cling on as best you can? Or do you choose to be active and change the situation that you are in?

The former is in someways safer - you know what to expect and although things might be very bad you know how to manage, you coping mechanism click in. You might not actually be able to get out of the badness but you can kid yourself that you are content there. The latter is harder (well life isn't always easy) as you have to start making decisions and these might have some scary consequences. The comfort zone of humdrum life can be removed and then a whole series of options that you might not have thought about suddenly rear their little heads.

I have chosen to be more active in the way that I deal with my life and not just ignore the bad bits. So I have started listing stuff on ebay again (check out my stuff) and I have opened two on-line shops: one selling my extensive collection of vintage knitting patterns and one selling on the postcards that I have bought over the years to sell. I don't know how successful these ventures with be but . At the moment they exist in name only but I will add more to them over the coming weeks.

My plan is to be totally debt free by August 2011 - I might be able to get there earlier but I know what a slacker I can be and don't want to make a promise I can't keep. By then I shall be 42 - and hopefully the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything will make itself clear. Or I shall be ready to start on my next phase which is to build my own beautiful house. Up until that point I am going to try and live simply - not splurge my cash; take my time with life; enjoy the pleasures it brings; knit in a relaxed manner; feel the pulse of life; make insane plans; and most importantly love.

Friday 22 August 2008

:-(

I have been so slack with everything recently. Things have been conspiring and I think that my knitting mojo has gone AWOL, so all in all it's not been a good few weeks.

At the moment I'm meant to be in Yarn Summer Snackdown and I can't be bothered - I finished the bookmark a few days ago and it's still waiting to be posted and the socks arealmost done but are just laying there looking pathetic, unfinished and kind of unloved.

I haven't even started on the scarf and stole - not sure if I like the yarn I have choosen and can't afford to buy any more and I can't seem to concentrate on anything at the moment.

I didn't even manage to finish the I Do shrug from the Tour de France KAL.

I feel lost.

Monday 21 July 2008

Ouch

I was happily doing some gardening over the wekend and cut down loads of spikey branches and rampant rose bushes without the slightest sign of injury. Then on Saturday night I was tidying up some paper and managed to get a deep paper cut across the side of my left thumb and I couldn't knit all weekend. Everytime I pushed the needle back with my left thumb the cut started bleeding and it was most ouchy :-(

So, no progress on the shrug. And now I have less than a week to get the other side done - I think I might run out of time as I need to block it too. It will get finished though as it is Lauren's birthday present and I know that she'll love it.

The moral of the tale? - DON'T DO HOUSEWORK!!!

Thursday 17 July 2008

Update on I Do

I know that I've been quiet the past couple of days but work has been a bit mad - but I have been knitting away. I'm now upto just below where the back opens for the shrug, probably get there tomorrow. Then on Saturday I have a trip to London and back so that's another few hours of lovely knitting to keep me entertained.

Wednesday 16 July 2008

Getting sorted

I was away this weekend with my fella and it was lovely. For years I have been dreaming about building my own house - unique to me and lovely. My fella knew, but I think that it wasn't until we went to the Centre of Alternative Technology in Wales this weekend that he finally understood. And he loves the idea: he's already started making models and sorting out the basics. But I am years away from getting it built as I am in a certain amount of debt. It's not horrendous but I could well do without the dratted thing. So I have decided to sell as much of my stuff on ebay as I can bear to part with - I'll update here whenever I have knitterly items going up. I have 100s of vintage patterns from the 1940s and 1950s that will get onto ebay - mainly men's and childrens but there are other things in there too.

I also decided to get my stash sorted properly as I am going to really cut back on how much yarn I will be buying for a while. So I spent this evening taking photos so that I can get as much listed onto Ravelry as I can. And boy do I have a load of random skein and balls. Anyway so I hope to have the rest of it sorted by the weekend and then I can really crack on with ebay.

Friday 11 July 2008

Off for the weekend

Also just to say that I am going away for the weekend so won't be able to post to the blog but my knitting and lots of extra yarn are coming with me so I will be with you in spirit :-) Wishing everyone well for the Tour de France KAL and hope to see some amazing progress when I get back (from me as well)