Happy Halloween! 

About a month ago I ordered this printable from The Abandoned Attic  and finally got it all put together and on our door today. I hope we get Trick or Treaters this year!

The Diffuser

One of the things I went into this oil journey with was knowing that I wanted to try a diffuser. I had seen some of the teachers at the lab school I worked at for my assistanship use them in their classrooms. They used them to calm children in general, keep a productive class, and things like that. I was intrigued.

So, with my second order with Doterra, I made sure to get a diffuser.

It was a rough start. The diffuser tells me to use "a few" drops in it. "A few"?! How many is a few? My first go around with it, I definitely overdid it. I won't tell you how much I put in, but it left both my husband and I having a hard time with the smell and, well, breathing in general.

The second go around I first made sure it was at a time when my husband was not at home. I'm still trying to get him on board with this whole natural health with oils thing, so I try to be covert. This time I only used 3 drops in the diffuser, and I think that's the 'magic number' for me. It's not too overwhelming, but it still is enough to do it's job.

So far I've diffused lavender, onguard (when I was really, really sick with that ear infection), Serenity, and a blend that I learned about from one of my doterra team members, she calls it "Productivity Please" and it's a peppermint-wild orange mix. It's quite nice actually.

I'm still on the fence about oils in general, though. Yeah, they smell nice and all, but as far as all the miraculous stuff I'm hearing other people talk about? Still not there yet. In fact, I'm not sure I ever will be. We are quite healthy and I think that oils are something that will be a great supplement to our routines, but not the end all be all of our healthy lifestyle.

Because There's No Competition at 5 a.m.

I have a really hard time waking up in the mornings when I have work. I don't understand why. But on days like today, when I can sleep in a bit, I physically can't. My body won't let me. The same body that acts like it's the end of the world at the exact same time yesterday thinks all is well and wonderful today.

One of the biggest positives I have found on days like today is that there is absolutely no competition at 5 a.m. in the laundry room. I can get all of our laundry done (last week it was 6 loads) before anyone else is even conscious enough to remember they need to do laundry.

I also get a weird satisfaction out of vacuuming at 5:30 am, just because I can annoy the neighbors who vacuum at 11 p.m.

(p.s. It is now currently 6:30, I've been up for 2 hours, for any of my 5 readers who are curious)

Hazards of the Job

I started a new job a few months ago. I've got a 'big girl' job as the lead teacher in a classroom. And unfortunately one of the perks of starting a new school year, at a new school, with a new demographic, means I get exposed to new germs.

I've been sick for the last month.

Around the same time I got started with being sick, a friend of mine introduced me to essential oils. While I will not say that they completely cured me, I did have some interesting experiences with them. I am still reserving my final judgment on them for later, after I have more time to try them out in different ways, but over the next few days I will blog a bit about what I've used so far and how I feel about it at this point in time.

Cheers!

Sorry for the Pause: Gridelin Again

Hi all! I'm back, hopefully for good this time. (But of course I say that every time and then life happens.) I have plans to blog a bit about some of what has been going on lately, I've been busy that's for sure.

So, here's a quick up date on the Curls project. I started Gridelin waaay back in August. I've been picking away at it since then, as well as trying to get some other projects done as well. I got to the point in Gridelin where I started to think, "I don't think it's going to be big enough."

Of course, these patterns were made to be used with that one "special" skein of yarn if need be. And I had this yarn, ready to go. It's one of "my" colors. And I just knew, deep in my knitter's heart, that one skein would not be enough. I'm being pickier with this one since I intend to keep it for myself. I bought the yarn a long time ago, and knew that the yarn shop would not have any more in the right dye lot.

I checked anyway.

Then, Ravelry to the rescue. I searched the yarn color. This led me to three people who had skeins of the colorway in their "for sale or trade" stash. I messaged each one with the dye lot number and crossed my fingers.

Lo and behold, one messaged me back that she had not one but TWO skeins in the right dye lot. She happily sent both to me, and I happily received them. Upon the receipt of the package my husband told me I got more yarn, and I realized that he now automatically thinks that any package I receive is yarn.

I'm nearly done with my first original skein, and have the next one ready to go.  After that I might have to pause for a bit, since I have 5 Christmas Stockings to make by Thanksgiving (a self imposed deadline, btw).

Happy Knitting Y'all!

A Decision

I recently made an announcement on facebook that I think needs to be done here too (for all three of you who actually read the blog...)

I have decided to close down my Etsy shop. I'm going to allow the current listings to expire and will not be actively listing new items any time in the forseeable future (is that even a word?). I've decided that being a made-to-order person will be much better option for me right now. And not having the constant 'pressure' to create and list new items on Etsy will be a huge relief for me in my day-to-day life.

This is a decision that has been months, yes MONTHS, in the making. I've laid awake in bed late at night contemplating it. I've spent my lunch breaks and evenings brooding as I tried to finish Christmas presents or a new project for the shop. Finally, I asked a few people what their thoughts were.

While I will still be making items, it won't be for the mysterious 'target audience' that I still haven't been able to define for myself. The cost, financially, emotionally, mentally, and in time, just isn't worth it for me right now.

So, for those of you who have seen my shop, and have any of my items on your personal 'wish list', grab them now! I have a clearance coupon ready and waiting. Just send me a message on the Facebook page, and I'll get it to you.

Thank You All!

Gridelin Grows

One hour: I am loving this stitch pattern! (Hopefully it will last, on the other two, once I got about halfway through I got really bored with the stitch pattern and couldn't wait for it to be done so I could start something new.) 

One of the greatest things about this shawl pattern, in comparison to the prior two, is that you can actually 'read' the knitting on it very easily. The other ones were mostly a variation of stockinette stitch, but this one isn't. It's a mock cable (yes, you don't need a cable needle for it), so there is a good variation of knit and purl stitches that are consistent on each row. This makes it easy to see where I'm at on both the right and wrong side of the knitting. 

Eleven Hours:

I am still enjoying this pattern. I love it! It's simple enough to not need the pattern in front of me, but still interesting enough to keep me from getting horrifically bored like the last two shawls from this book did. 

One thing I'm really enjoying about this pattern is that I can easily see how I could incorporate it into a baby sweater, or an adult sweater, even into a hat as a lovely design element. I could totally do that! It would look super fancy but not be super fancy during the knitting part of the garment creation. 

By weight, I'm a little under halfway done with this shawl. It might end up being smaller than I would like when I get to the end of the skein, so I might have to go buy another skein if I can find it in the right colorway and dye lot.