A little of this and that...

Having gotten myself in gear with my Linen & Threads sampler I managed to make a bit of a dent in Part 4 this week.  While you can't tell from the picture (below), Part 4 is a BIG design. While I spent hours on it this past week, it's probably only about a quarter done.  Why does one big design feel bigger than two or even three smaller ones I wonder...

Even though it's slow going, it's always fun watching a design take shape. 

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Next up...   Lucy at Another Day blog gets credit for this next idea.  Last week Lucy mentioned that she is bagging up mini skeins and creating her own advent calendar.  What a great idea!   Lucy explains her motivation for making her own, but my motivation (in addition to not needing any more yarn) is that I've lost some interest along the way, and this might just be a kick start I need to more seriously dig back into my yarns and crochet threads. 

I decided to come up with some easy projects that I might be able to complete in a day or so.  I'm packaging up different yarns and threads, with the plan being to open up a bag each day of Advent and hopefully be inspired to make a thing.

Lest you think it might get overwhelming, or simply not possible to complete a project each day, I've thought of that already...

First, I've chosen very simple, and familiar (to some degree) projects.   And we're talking dishcloths, small doilies, bookmarks, small cross stitch motifs to add to my Linen & Threads' sampler...  stuff like that. The point (in my mind, anyway) isn't so much a variety of projects, but rather the point is to dig into my yarns and get my fingers busy with it again.

And secondly, keeping with my "go with the flow" sort of attitude when it comes to crafting, I'm not going to burden myself with rules and expectations of having to finish everything.  In fact, I give myself permission to completely skip a day (or days) of opening a package.  If I end up with unopened packages at the end of Advent, then the fun just extends beyond that time frame.  

So you see, it's all good!  I'm even using up some years-old paper bags, so I'm decluttering as well.

I don't think my large basket is going to hold it all as I've only got about 8 days of projects bagged up here.  I've got another week to decide on what projects and yarns and threads will get bagged up.  Shouldn't be a problem to pull it all together by next Sunday's post and then I'll be ready to begin.

Then each week during advent I'll enjoy showing in my weekly YOP post what I've completed that week.

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And finally, this weekend, I got started on a large project that I hope to have finished by Christmas.  Youngest (25 yo) son asked if I'd make him a new crocheted blanket.  He picked out the colors and asked for a ripple pattern.  

Just a peeky peek this week!

A lot of rows to go, but other than figuring out widths of the color changes it's a pretty mindless project.   And while I'd love to have it finished by Christmas, I'm not going to stress over that either.

In case you haven't picked up on it, I am very much about not stressing right now.  It's been an eventful year - in so many respects.  I'm going to do my best to keep my little corner of the world peaceful.