Not enough time

It has been tough finding time to write on this blog, and it has been tough finding interesting things to write about. After all, my hobbies are pretty normal, run-of-the-mill hobbies. I'm good at them, but I'm not cranking out things that are spectacular or anything. And lately it's been hard to find the time to be creative, and lately I've been sticking with simple projects, ones that I can do while zoning out in front of the TV.

When I first started blogging a couple months ago I had a friend look it over, to get her opinion. She laughed and said, "Oh Anna, your life looks so organized and beautiful. Ha! but I know the truth!" And she was right, I was spending too much time and thought on making my life look like I wished it looked. The truth is, my life is kind of cluttered, not that pretty, and not as cheerful as I try to make it seem. I have too many hobbies (because I'm probably trying to compensate for the boring hours I spend at work everyday), and when I do have time to work on my projects I'm often too tired and depressed to bring any creativity to the project - hence boring simple projects.

My enthusiasm for gardening usually putters out once it starts getting too hot - mid July/August , and boy has it been HOT, and the overwhelming produce from the garden makes me want to hide. I know I should be canning, drying, freezing and pickling all this food, but it takes time, time I feel like I don't have, and I'm lacking the motivation to make the time.

Ugh, enough complaining though, that's not what this blog is for. So here, here are some photos of what my life really looks like. It's messy, cluttered, full of weeds, and lacking the creativity I like to tell myself I have.

...weeds

...laundry

... messy sewing room

You get the idea...

In a few days I have some time off work and I will be spending it doing the things I love doing. Sewing, knitting, gardening, and whatever else sounds good at the time. I might even find some time to blog about it.

pretty kitty on vacation

My 10year old kitty, Bessos, is missing. She has taken little "vacations" before, once she was missing for five days and came home during a storm. This time she's been missing only three days and although I'm 99.9% sure she'll come home, I am more worried than usual because it's so hot out. We've had temps in the mid to upper 90's and heat indexes up near 110. Anyway, send good kitty vibes this way please and let's hope she's somewhere cool and safe and will return soon.

Lace & pickles

Ah, finally, some knitting. This is a lace top I've been meaning to finish for some time now, three years or give or take. I think this will be the summer it gets done. Here is the finished product.



...and while we are on the topic of lace, here is another project that I've been putting off. It's a lace pattern I've created to look like a spider web and in the center will be a name. It's for an art show this September so it will be a wall hanging when all said and done. If it gets done, and if it turns out the way I plan. It's turning out to be a big pain in the ass, but I know once it's done it'll be worth it. I'll be sure to post when it's finished, no matter what the outcome is.



On a pickling note, me and my husband put up two jars of cornichon pickles last weekend and we'll be doing more this weekend. Our cucumbers are growing like crazy, I have to go out each night to pick them, and missing just one night means giant cukes. I can only hope our corn does this well. We'll be able to do a taste test in three weeks, and of course I'll have up-dates and the recipe, if we think it's worth sharing. This is our tester year, we're searching for the perfect pickle.

We've been slightly under the weather, last weekend and this week, but I think we're on the mend and just in time too. The garden is in it's second harvest - the rest of the potatoes came out today, along with half of the onions, and of course the cukes. Tomatoes are just about ready and it might be time to plant some carrots, beets, and beans. After a week of being kind of sick I'm feeling a little ambitious, so I don't know how much of that planting will really get done.

I went to the local knitting group today, hadn't been in over a year, but it was good to be back and I promised myself I'd try to go more often. It's a good group of gals.

Jackpot!

Look at the fabulous stuff I got from my aunt yesterday!

How cute are these buttons?!

...and this elegant print

...and these bright prints

...this one reminds me of something from my childhood, but I can't quite place it

...more bright prints

...and some lovely solids

Not sure what I'll make yet, but I'm sure I can come up with something.

Had a busy weekend so I didn't get much knitting done, or anything else for that matter. Oh well. I've got four days off coming up and big plans for a couple projects. Might try to get away and have a little fun too. I'll keep you posted!

A is for Anna

Yes, in my last post I promised crochet, but things got a little crazy and I ended up doing some embroidery instead. This is something I've been wanting to work on for some time now. Monogrammed hankies. I've made them before, gifts for family or friends, but I would like to start making them to sell on Etsy, and maybe offer "kits" or patterns as well. So I'm going to be testing some over the next few weeks. I made an "L" for my best friend a while back and I really wish I would have gotten a picture of it, but I forgot. Anyway, all I do is draw my design on paper with a dark pen, and then I trace it onto a white hankie with pencil. ~ Pencil because it washes out.

Then I snap on a hoop, pick three colors of floss and stitch it up!

Yes, the photo is a little out of focus, but our camera is old and I've been having a hard time with it. Hopefully we'll be getting a replacement soon. Any ideas on what we should get? We're thinking Cannon, but I've always kind of been a Nikon girl...

Ok, next post you might see a little crochet, but I'm not making any promises!

Summertime knitting

As I might have mentioned before, my summertime knitting consist of smaller, cooler projects. No wool, nothing bulky, and nothing that sits in the lap. It's just too damn hot, you know?
Here's number three in a lovely ocean blue - almost done.

Number two, a refreshing purple.

And number one in a bright green - this one is my favorite.

They are all washcloths, BTW.

So, I'm trying to fit as much knitting in as I can, in between the garden and other household stuff, but honestly, lately all I want to do at the end of the day is zone-out in front of the boob-tube.

There might be some crochet in the next post so stay tuned!

Where's the knitting!?!

I know, on a blog named Purlanna you would expect to see a little knitting, right? Well all I have to say is sorry, but honestly there hasn't been anytime for knitting, and when I do get a minute to pick up my needles I'm usually finding myself nodding off after 5 or 10 minutes. The garden is keeping me busy along with my day-time job. I've been trying to crack down on my house cleaning too. Summer is creeping up and the house can get pretty messy pretty quick.


When I do fine the time to knit, I've been working on a simple baby blanket. The yarn is an acrylic I found on sale at the local HL, not my favorite place to buy yarn, but I was there anyway and couldn't help but check out the sales. Seriously, what is it about yarn on sale? I can even find an excuse to buy the ugliest, cheapest yarn if the price is right. I think to myself, "I know there's a project out there for this." Yeah, an ugly project! Although this baby blanket isn't that ugly at all, it's rather cute, boring, but cute.

I was recently able to get rid of a bunch of "sale" yarn in a garage sale my mom and aunt were having. However, I don't think any of it sold, there's a surprise...


OK, so I promise to have more knitting on here, at least every other post, OK? You just have got to understand that it's garden season so there is going to be lots of garden post (lots!). So, I hope there are knitters out there, knitters that also garden, or at least like fresh food, and that you will understand that this will pass and knitting will return (along with the cold, quiet, winter nights) and all will be back to normal, or as normal as a knitting addict's life can be...


And, in case you were wondering what I did tonight instead of knitting, here's a glimpse.



...and here's a friend that stopped by for a visit last night.