My smartphone is the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me.
Someone asked me last night what I liked and didn't like about my phone, as she's in the market for a smartphone. I have an iPhone 4s, which is sort of irrelevant to my train of thought here, but anyway. I love that I always have a camera on hand now, and so many moments that I would usually miss because I feel weird carrying around a real camera are easily captured. I love that I can quickly and easily share cute videos or pictures with my family via text or email. I love that I now have GPS even if my car doesn't. I love that I can check the weather forecast from beneath the jumble of my blankets without even fully opening my eyes. (I admit though that I sometimes remind myself of Phoebe from Friends, the one where she walks into the apartment and asks, "Hey, can we turn on the TV? I think it's raining outside.") I love that I can access all my favorite blogs and shopping and to do lists and schedule with a few taps. I love streaming Netflix on my laptop, which in combination with my DVR totally makes up for our lack of cable tv, because it saves me from flipping through the channels to relax and lets me watch what I want, when I want.
But.....I feel like it often overtakes my life. I despise looking up from my phone, and seeing my husband totally absorbed in his as well, both of us completely tuning out the room, and each other. I love pulling the laptop into bed so that I can knit and watch Real Housewives of whatever before I go to sleep while simultaneously referencing my pattern online.....but I also hate realizing that my husband is downstairs watching tv and working on his laptop far too late into the night at the same time.
I like that everything is all neatly bundled into my smartphone, but every time I think of taking a technology free weekend I have so many, well what about this questions. Like, well I would turn it all off but then it's also kind of our home phone so what if someone needs me? Or what if I ONLY use it to take and send that daily photo? (And if I pre-schedule a daily email does that even achieve the purpose of unplugging? Or is that cheating?) Or what if I'm knitting and I haven't printed out my pattern, can I fire it up to check on it then? And what if my husband implodes from not being able to do his fantasy sports or whatever it is that he's over there pecking away at? Doesn't the very fact that I have so much heartburn over the mere suggestion of 48 phone/laptop/tb free hours - EVEN when I'm just proposing it TO MYSELF - say that this is sort of a problem?
I'm not sure if I have a point here.....this is just a stream of consciousness that I felt the need to document. Electronically......(is this irony?)
I make things. I can't seem to help it.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
Wicked Craft Week
A whole week of crafts....which means a whole week of posts AND new ideas....which means you probably won't find that kind of commitment here! You WILL find it though over at Delightfully Noted!
And while I can't quite manage a whole week of fresh content, I CAN do one day. And look - there's me on deck for Wednesday's post! I hope you'll come check me out, along with everyone offering up something for Wicked Craft Week. :)
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
It's October!
Ahhh, can't you just smell the pumpkin spice latte in the air?! (I was at a non-Starbucks coffee establishment last night, and asked for a pumpkin spice latte and the girl looked at me as if I'd asked for something unheard of. It wasn't on the menu, but they DID have pumpkin chai. Is it possible the entire world DOESN'T anxiously await pumpkin spiced everything season like I do?)
So anyway, now that it's all officially fall and everything, I just wanted to put up a little note about Halloween hats. I have 3 (er, 4) available in the shop right now! I'll put up a more definitive deadline closer to Halloween as it's somewhat dependent on workload, but I think orders will need to be placed within the next THREE WEEKS to guarantee delivery by Halloween. (And keep in mind that you may need to order earlier if your community does trick-or-treating the weekend before like mine does. Halloween falls on a Thursday this year!)
The perennial classic pumpkin head:
The "boo" earflap hat:
And the newest addition, the monster hat! (This one is pink as it was a custom order, which is obviously not always the scariest color, unless you are a 5 year old boy - then pink might be downright terrifying! As pretty much everything in my shop is made to order, color options are always up to you!)
And this one isn't strictly Halloween, but darn it, I just like this owl hat! :) It could be partly costume.
So anyway, now that it's all officially fall and everything, I just wanted to put up a little note about Halloween hats. I have 3 (er, 4) available in the shop right now! I'll put up a more definitive deadline closer to Halloween as it's somewhat dependent on workload, but I think orders will need to be placed within the next THREE WEEKS to guarantee delivery by Halloween. (And keep in mind that you may need to order earlier if your community does trick-or-treating the weekend before like mine does. Halloween falls on a Thursday this year!)
The perennial classic pumpkin head:
The "boo" earflap hat:
And the newest addition, the monster hat! (This one is pink as it was a custom order, which is obviously not always the scariest color, unless you are a 5 year old boy - then pink might be downright terrifying! As pretty much everything in my shop is made to order, color options are always up to you!)
And this one isn't strictly Halloween, but darn it, I just like this owl hat! :) It could be partly costume.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Weekend Productivity
And wine. Love wine. :) I'm a red wine kind of gal all year round, but something about it in the crisp fall weather is just the best. I'm probably showing signs of my age, but the above photo was from Friday night. And it was perfect. A little crafting, nice glass (just kidding, it's not a nice wine - two buck chuck!) of wine, junky tv show, quiet, lovely.
Putting the finishing touches on a newsboy hat. This is before I noticed that I put the button strap on at an angle. Argh! Just grab the seam ripper. :)
It's so nice to actually be able to gather a bunch of finished hats up and SEE how much I got done! I finished up the monster hat that I started last week, the gray is the newsboy hat, and I managed to start AND finish a little elf hat for a new December baby! Plus I have the brown swatch in the back that has a bunch of stitch experimenting for a project I'm about to cast on. AND I made a couple meals this weekend - I felt like superwoman! That is before I figured out that I didn't actually turn on the dishwasher after I loaded it. Right back down to earth.
I took a couple of new photos of the newsboy hat to update the listing. I had a rare combination of daylight, time and finished items so I tried to take advantage. I also grabbed some shots of a new listing - the monster hat! This is a topper for a Halloween costume, so it seemed right to make it a little....nuts. Silly googly eyes, mouth full of pointy teeth, and all in pink, purple and green to match a little girl's costume. Can't wait it ship 'er out!
Friday, September 27, 2013
In development
Apparently I'm a little bit of a liar. A few weeks ago when I met with my knitting group, we were all discussing what kind of things we make. Some of the ladies, who are immensely more talented than me, were talking about patterns they had written. When someone asked me if I ever write my own, I just said, oh, no, I don't really do that. I said that I design all day, so why would I want to keep doing that in my off hours?!
Lies.
I'm working out some stitch patterns for one of those newborn cocoons for photo props. Someone contacted me to see if I could make something like that, but I just couldn't find something out there on the internet that I really liked. She specified that she was interested in something that was more like a sleeping bag than a nest, and something more lacy and delicate than a ribbed pattern, as well as some color preferences. And, well, that darn designer in me just won't stand down! I'm noodling around a few ideas, and will probably end up incorporating bits and pieces of a few different patterns and putting my own twist on it. I can't wait to have some consecutive hours this weekend to work out some more of the details!
I've also had a request for a monster hat to finish off a Halloween costume! This one will build off of the basic shape of the earflap hat that I used for the sleepy owl and the boo hat, but I have some ideas to take it to a different level. We're aiming for something sort of Monsters, Inc-esque, but still pretty and girly. Hence the pink, lol. I had the yarn for the body of the hat on hand so I was able to get that going right away. I'll have to head to the store this weekend pick up the other colors the buyer wanted.
So yeah, I lied. Much as I try to take the easy way and just follow pre-written patterns...I just can't seem to help changing this detail here, or tweaking that over there, or, oh heck, just throw it all to the wind and start from scratch! It's really great actually at this stage in my shop, because most of the items I have listed started from someone's custom request. It gives me a concrete task to focus on and play with until it's just right, and if it turns out well and the buyer is happy, well then I know I have something special that might be just right for someone else! And if it's not just right, well, we can always tweak it a little farther!
(and also, I just have to say that I'm totally floored by some of the blogs I read that have the most gorgeous pictures of some of the tiniest details of their days. I'm all for pulling out my big camera and pretending like I have a clue what I'm doing for events or outings or finished product photos....but beyond that, man, it's just SO much easier to grab the iPhone! I would loooove if I were able to express my ideas and frame my life in such a lovely way. But I just can't seem to manage it!)
Lies.
I'm working out some stitch patterns for one of those newborn cocoons for photo props. Someone contacted me to see if I could make something like that, but I just couldn't find something out there on the internet that I really liked. She specified that she was interested in something that was more like a sleeping bag than a nest, and something more lacy and delicate than a ribbed pattern, as well as some color preferences. And, well, that darn designer in me just won't stand down! I'm noodling around a few ideas, and will probably end up incorporating bits and pieces of a few different patterns and putting my own twist on it. I can't wait to have some consecutive hours this weekend to work out some more of the details!
I've also had a request for a monster hat to finish off a Halloween costume! This one will build off of the basic shape of the earflap hat that I used for the sleepy owl and the boo hat, but I have some ideas to take it to a different level. We're aiming for something sort of Monsters, Inc-esque, but still pretty and girly. Hence the pink, lol. I had the yarn for the body of the hat on hand so I was able to get that going right away. I'll have to head to the store this weekend pick up the other colors the buyer wanted.
So yeah, I lied. Much as I try to take the easy way and just follow pre-written patterns...I just can't seem to help changing this detail here, or tweaking that over there, or, oh heck, just throw it all to the wind and start from scratch! It's really great actually at this stage in my shop, because most of the items I have listed started from someone's custom request. It gives me a concrete task to focus on and play with until it's just right, and if it turns out well and the buyer is happy, well then I know I have something special that might be just right for someone else! And if it's not just right, well, we can always tweak it a little farther!
(and also, I just have to say that I'm totally floored by some of the blogs I read that have the most gorgeous pictures of some of the tiniest details of their days. I'm all for pulling out my big camera and pretending like I have a clue what I'm doing for events or outings or finished product photos....but beyond that, man, it's just SO much easier to grab the iPhone! I would loooove if I were able to express my ideas and frame my life in such a lovely way. But I just can't seem to manage it!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)