Snowy Weather

 Hello!

It's been a while. My weekends have been full of Japanese homework, knitting, garden cleanup, and flower bed creation. Now the ground is covered in a foot (at least!) of snow, we have a weekend off from homework, and I am between knitting projects as of right this moment!

I pulled out the leather working supplies and started making my leather tags for the knitting - they are pretty cool! But it was a day full of learning lessons about all the little intricacies - how wet should the leather be? How far apart should the stamps be? Should they go the same direction or upside down? Which of my scraps work for the stamping? Should I buy the heat gun so I can burn the suede style leathers since they won't stamp?? There were also lessons learned on how large the holes need to be in the leather so that I can actually get the needle through, (bigger than I expect they should be) and how to keep the label straight on the knitting while I stitch it (lesson still being learned...) But, overall, I'm pleased with the project. It has been years in the making, and finally seeing the labels on my hats and scarves is very satisfying. 

The knitting projects always come in waves for me - I wanted to work on my colorwork mittens, so I have yarn set aside to make about four different pairs. Of course I didn't swatch my new yarn, assuming it would work since it is sport weight, and while the mittens will fit a variety of hands, they look very silly - long and thin. So...now I have to decide how to proceed - do I rework the pattern to fit my yarn or do I find yarn to fit my pattern? I also have two different colorwork patterns that I want to test out, and one is quite a bit smaller than the other - so that raises even more questions. What it really means though, is that I am doing a lot of thinking about knitting and a lot of charting, and a lot of math, but not actually a lot of knitting. 

With the holidays coming up, I have several custom order malas to be working on, so I'll need to get my thoughts and materials gathered for that. Yesterday I worked on my Etsy listings for the jewelry shop, I have jars of jewelry sitting on the coffee table staring at me: earrings and bracelets and necklaces that have yet to be photographed or listed. 

We shoveled three times yesterday and once on Thursday - so we are fully into snow season! Matt and I are hoping to get out in it today, put on our long johns and go enjoy the sunshine and the blinding white snow. Hope you all have a lovely week!

Back to School, Back to School

 Hello everyone :)

Matt heads back to campus tomorrow to start his Sophomore year of college. We're looking forward to all of his classes, but a bit apprehensive on how the year will go. He's got a bevy of masks, so he should be ready to be in a room with young people who aren't known for taking many precautions health wise. He starts Japanese language classes, and I'm trying to learn along with him. We've downloaded some apps and have been working on learning the hiragana, but it's a lot to learn!

I've been thinking about knitting, a lot. But haven't actually done any. I have a couple of projects on the list to do right away - some hats and scarves to prep for winter - and then some back burner projects I'd like to work on.  Mostly I just want to buy and squish yarn. :)

This week's creative energies were focused on jewelry making. I had a family friend custom order malas for Christmas gifts, and the beads came in early this week so I was able to get those put together. Matt put the finishing touches on for me yesterday, and I can't wait to send pictures out to make sure he's happy with them. I also had a co-worker request necklace options for their sister's birthday, so I spent yesterday afternoon and this morning putting that together. Of course, she requested that back in June...and the birthday is Tuesday...so we'll see if she even still needs a gift! If not, I'll have some really beautiful necklaces and matching earrings to put up in the Etsy shop. 

I've started a new position at my job this last week, so I'll be busy learning all my new responsibilities, and teaching other folks how to do the stuff that I won't have time to do anymore. It's exciting and nerve-wracking! Hopefully this will even out my schedule too, so that I can have a more structured timeline for my days. I'm really looking forward to that! 

This week we made our first batch of Tomatillo salsa and canned it in the pressure canner. I have tomatoes coming ripe, so hopefully we'll be making tomato sauce and pizza sauce in the coming weeks. I think I also have enough tomatillos ripe for another batch of salsa!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Slow Weekend Tidbits

Hello!

It's been a slow week here - taking each day in stride, trying to focus on our health and Matt's surgery recovery. We've been going for walks and riding the Peloton regularly, and adding in some strength training workouts that hurt for days (for me anyway!). It's also been computer heavy on the creative side - with me working on adding all of our jewelry listings. We are up to 44 active listings on the Hide and Hair Gems Etsy account!

Yesterday I went outside to clean up a mess I made two weekends ago, and ended up weeding the raspberry patch/flower patch next to the deck for roughly three hours. It was my first sunburn of the season...and wasn't nearly as bad as they have been in the past. But my raspberry patch looks better than it has in a long time!!

I also worked on a commissioned Mala this week. The beads I used were gorgeous Labradorite 8 and 10 mm round beads. The flash in some of those beads were unbelievable. 

                                               

In addition to spending a ton of time on my phone/the computer for the Etsy listings, I've also still been working on uploading our photos and organizing them into folders in Google Photos. We are trying to consolidate our Japanese honeymoon photos and our wedding photos into one place so we can pick out a couple of pictures to hang on our walls. It's going to be a tough decision I fear. 

Hope you all have a lovely week coming up!

July Tidbits

Hello Everyone!

It's been two whole weeks and I don't have much to report craft-wise. I started taking allergy shots to help combat my allergy issues (turns out I'm really allergic to grass, and regular allergic to pretty much everything else lol) so I've been pretty focused on that. I have to sit for a half hour after each shot - which would be a great time to knit, but my current project is the baby blanket, which is huge and difficult to carry around...so I've been reading! It's been a rough year for reading, and I've only just finished my second book for the year. (They were both children's books too...lol)

Jasper Fforde

I did spend most of last weekend working on a small brick-work project in the backyard. The gate to our backyard has bothered me since we moved in - it was uneven, difficult to mow, and the fence was poorly wrapped, so grass would grow up between the fence pieces and it was not easy to close the gate handle. It's looking pretty good after two weekends of work! The weekend before last I purchased some of my materials, cut the sod, and starting evening out the soil. I was rained out before I got too far, so last weekend I did the bulk of the work - evening out the soil the rest of the way, laying down weed fabric, placing the bricks and the pebbles. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination - but for my first project, I'm pretty pleased. Plus, it's a rental...so there's that. 

A little work still needed.

 

I worked yesterday morning, and spent the afternoon working on listings for the Hide and Hair Gems Etsy shop. I've been trying to focus on my physical health (which is usually relegated to "if I have time" because I tend to put myself and my needs behind other things I think are more important) so I've been riding the Peloton quite a bit this last week. Yesterday I did a class that was in German on accident - but it was actually kind of fun not really understanding what was going on. I've also been using an inhaler before exercising the last few times and I've never been more sore lol. I guess when you have better lung capabilities, it's easier to actually work your muscles! 😂

The old computer is slowly giving up all of it's treasures, and once it is clear I am going to set up a soldering station for my jewelry. I am super excited to expand what I can create - and am anxious to do so! Hopefully next week I'll have more news to report on that front. Til then - have a great week!

4th of July Weekend

Hello!!

My employer decided to give us Friday off as observed Independence Day, so I have enjoyed a three day weekend! Matt also went back to work this week (he was off for his surgeries, and then the museum was shut down for COVID-19) so I had yesterday all to myself, and I'll have today as well!

Beautiful Bozeman, Montana

I've been plugging away at the brown baby blanket I started back when Matt had his first hip surgery in March. It's slow going, but we are at the point where it takes forty minutes to do two rows, and I have roughly eight rows of pattern left, followed by ten rows of stockinette after, and the three-ish rows of decorative edging. So it'll be some time still. I did stuff some cat toys and got those listed on Etsy last weekend, but I really need to wash another fleece so that I have stuffing for the next round of toys. I was also approached to donate toys to an animal rescue in California - which I am only just now remembering. (It was a wild week mentally.) 

Cat toys!

Friday Matt and I went for a walk, relaxed a bit, made a yummy pizza with ingredients from the garden, and started work on a small landscaping job in the backyard. It's coming along nicely - but the daily rain has kept me from finishing it. 

A friend we made on our walk.

Yesterday I set to work in the laundry room. I've had grand plans for that room for years, with drawings and hours of thought put into it, but during our walk on Friday Matt and I discussed the realities of it - do I move forward anticipating that my plans are achievable? Or do I accept that it has been roughly four years, and that plan is dead? So I headed into the room yesterday morning with that in mind - brought a notebook, pencil, and measuring tape, cataloged the inventory I already had, and made up a list of things I needed to purchase in order to put the room into some kind of order. I set to work with the materials I already had, and then after lunch I ran to the store to purchase my other requirements, and finished up what I could before Matt got home from work. He helped me run some things through the table saw, I did some quick sanding, and after a little less than eight hours of work, I had four new shelves, a hanger for my pizza peel, hooks for our grocery store bags, a freshly cleaned and reorganized fridge top/over the fridge cupboard, and plans for one more big shelf to be installed today. Matt was pretty impressed with my accomplishments - and laughed when I told him I was inspired to do it all so that I could wash a fleece in the garage today (the water to the garage washing machine has to come through the laundry room, and the door to the garage was blocked with a giant stack of stuff that I moved yesterday.) :)

Coming along nicely.

Thursday would have been Grandpa Arneson's 100th birthday. It was a difficult day, but also one filled with happy memories. I hope you all enjoy the coming week, and do something for yourself today - if you are good to yourself, you may just follow in Grandpa's footsteps and live a long and healthy life. 

Grandpa Ross Arneson, and Kirsten

Happy Father's Day!

Hello everyone, and Happy Father's Day!

It's going to be a pretty quiet day around here I think, at the very least it has started off that way :) I missed posting last week, but the day got away from me, and we hadn't done much of any note for the week. I've been working on starting an Etsy shop for the Jewelry, and that has taken up most of my evening time. 

Creatively, I've been working on bracelets and bookmarks. My bag full of partially crocheted cat toy balls have been staring at me...but I should really wash another fleece for stuffing...so they will just have to stare a little longer. 

I'm still working on my photo transfer project as well. I've uploaded all of our photos into google photos so that I have access to all of our pre-cell phone photos that have just been hanging out on the computer upstairs. Matt and I also never compiled our Japan photo albums, so that is another of my long term goals. There are a few walls in this apartment that could use some Matt and Kirsten photography, so hopefully I find gold in my searches. :)

Have a wonderful week and a lovely lazy Sunday. :)

Surgery Weekend

 

Hello!

Matt had his second hip surgery on Wednesday, and while we had some surprises this round (they changed their anesthesia procedures between the March surgery and this one) he seems to be doing really well already. He was pretty much ready to start rehab the day of surgery this time - and it took several days last time. I took a few days off to be with him, but he definitely didn't need my help as much as he did after the last surgery. 

With Matt being out of work for the surgery and COVID-19 (we still don't know when/if he'll be back to work due to that) we've both been trying to focus on our side hustles. Unfortunately, when I pull up twitter to post something for the business, I'm assaulted by the grief and frustration of the pervasive racism, police brutality, and misogyny that is at the forefront of many people's minds and experiences at the moment. It feels tone-deaf to try to promote our business in the midst of this, no matter how much we need to monetarily, and navigating those waters have been very difficult for us.

Black Lives Matter. History matters. White Fragility and White Privilege exist, and the only way to combat the complacency of "I'm not a racist" whiteness is to push back against those voices. It is hard to have these conversations with those around us, especially with those we love - I very much do not want to offend loved ones whom I respect - but at this point in time it feels irresponsible to not say something. My silence is irresponsible.

A sign at the Bozeman BLM Protest

This week Peloton hosted a live ride with instructor Tunde, and it was hard. Not just because of events happening today/this week/this month/this year, but because she reminded me of who I really am and what I really believe. 

I am the girl who ran screaming and swearing after a boy who keep showing my friend his ass in the 7th grade. I am the girl who walked with Kyle and Kate to confront the Westboro Baptist Church protesters outside our high school. I am the girl, who with high hopes, posted up information about Invisible Children on my Facebook page my sophomore year of college, expecting a wave of support like I had seen the week before when Facebook users protested a formatting change of said website. I am the girl who grew up listening to Louis Armstrong's Black and Blue, Nina Simone's Mississippi Goddamn, Tower of Power's Can't Stand to See the Slaughter, and James Brown's I'm Black and I'm Proud.  

When I entered the teaching program at MSU, I had this idea that to be a good social studies teacher I had to not have outward opinions on current events or politics. If I want to get a job in a state like Montana, I need to keep my mouth shut, and show that I will not be a problematic hire. It's been especially difficult in the last few months as I apply for jobs and am not even a good enough candidate to get an interview. I've been putting pressure on myself to not stand out for my beliefs.

I can no longer pursue that track. I have to speak out, because I have to live with myself. 

While it is difficult to have a positive attitude at this moment, I hope that we can move forward with real change from this point. I hope that those of us who don't understand the protests take the time to learn more about them. I hope that our governmental systems can recognize their part in the trouble, and take strides to rectify the situation.  

I hope. 

Weekend Update

Hello!

It's been a very quick week. Matt heads in to surgery this coming Wednesday, so we've been sort of mentally prepping for that, plus the weather has been perfect for gardening (except for the wind we've had the last few days!) so there hasn't been a ton of crafting going on.

Norman and the Begonia

I'm still working on some malas, my beads arrived this week and they are gorgeous and perfect for my vision. Of course I had to clear the board of Matt's Kunzite mala that was waiting in line...so now that I've finished that (as of last night) I've got room on the board for the custom orders that came in. 

I had another custom order this week for cat toys, and I am in love with the idea of them! Small balls, 1.5" across, made with my scrap wool in vibrant colors. I'm stuffing them with raw wool and catnip just like their bigger friends. I'll be selling them in three packs in the Etsy shop when I get some made up for spec. 

While I do have a ridiculous amount of indoor crafting that needs to be done, as I mentioned before, the weather has been perfect for gardening, and my plants needed some attention. My flowers are all where they will be for the season (except for two shasta daisies, because I have no idea where I want to plant those.) I've got all my tomatoes and tomatillos in the ground and in their bucket homes. Yesterday I got about half of my peppers in their homes, but I need to clear the greenhouse of all the extra plants before I can finish that task. Which may take some time - the raised beds I was meant to plant the basil in are still waiting to be built.....  

Enjoy your weekends, tomorrow is the beginning of June! :)

Holiday Weekend Fun

Hello!

It is now day two of our Memorial Day Weekend festivities. Yesterday consisted of movie watching, cat toy crocheting, and ice cream eating. It was rainy and cold all day, so we didn't do much. Today we've already cleaned the floors, the bathrooms, and started laundry. It's still raining today, but tomorrow should be pretty and sunny.


Memorial Day weekend is usually the time set aside for planting outdoors here in Montana, but the last couple of years have been tough on that - June 10th 2018 gave us a killing frost, and last spring was cold and dreary right up until the middle of June. This year we might be safe - so I'm thinking about planting some things this afternoon when the rain cuts out.


Matt is getting ready for his second hip surgery in a week and a half, so we've been busy prepping for that. I've got a meal plan written out for about three weeks, with a focus on simple and healthy meals that won't require a ton of prep. I had a meal plan for the first hip as well - but was not prepared for the energy toll required for post-surgery care, and ended up buying some pretty naughty freezer meals a few days in. I'll be making some foods this weekend that I can toss in the freezer for added ease. We bought an air fryer at Christmas-time and that thing has come in super handy! We've got a couple of recipes that can go straight from freezer to air fryer to table in 15 minutes or less.

This was a thinking week for crafting. We've got an order for two mala and earring sets, so we did some research into stones, and the customers, and made up a plan for both. Of course we needed to buy a few supplies, so now we just have to sit on the plans until our beads come in. I'm super excited to put them together though, they are going to be very different from each other, and *hopefully* perfect for each recipient.

I've also been putting work into making cat toy balls, the cat toys are a never ending project since they are our most popular product. Several co-workers and some folks on Etsy purchased most of my colorful cotton balls, so I've been focused on those. I would love to get some mice put together too, but time - it slips away.

We hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend! Being part of a military family means that Memorial Day has always been a pretty important one for us. Dad always plays Taps, and takes part in the services at the cemetery, while Mom always helps the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW hand out poppies and place flowers on graves. This year has been difficult emotionally given that Grandpa B passed shortly after Memorial Day last year, and COVID-19 has set aside most of the ceremonial plans for the holiday. But we are still celebrating and memorializing as best we can this year, with high hopes for the celebrations next year, and all the years to come after.

Weekend Scraps

I headed back to work this week, and it feels like I almost got more done than I did on my week off. (Probably inaccurate, but it FELT that way...lol)

Our business started back in 1999ish, when Mom and I started making mice cat toys from our scrap yarn. That has really shaped who I am as a knitter, as I always try to utilize as much of the yarn as possible. It's also one of the reasons why I struggle so hard with pompoms - which seem to waste a ton of yarn to make one good pom. In the last few years I have started crocheting cat toys, which allows me to use even non-felting yarn scraps.

Anyway - all this is to set up the fact that I have been thinking about scrap knitting a lot this week. I even made a post on Twitter about it, how sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes the end product turns out even better than I anticipated. Over the last two years I've been making a lot of scarves from Scarfie yarn by Lion Brand, which is a non-felting, easy care yarn. I've been keeping all the little scraps, (and sometimes the big scraps!) left over from those projects in a bag, and this week I pulled out that bag and put together a fringed scarf and a hat.

The hat came out better than I imagined it would, although it is a bit large. The scarf was the fun bit, even if the yarn didn't cooperate the way I wanted it to. (I was doing single rows of thicker yarn throughout, and one of the strands ran out before I got to the end of the row. It turned out ok, but not what I had envisioned.) Usually I leave the fringe long and messy, but this time I wanted a cleaner look, so I YouTube'd some techniques for twisting fringe. I love how it came out :)

I also got some flowers planted this weekend, and am headed out again today with Matt to work in the greenhouse building secondary shelves so there is more room for the baby plants.

Hope you all have a great week and we'll see you next time!

Whatcha Doin'?

We've been pretty busy lately. Matt and I have been working on Mala designs, trying to make some affordable options, and some premium options. We've been experimenting with different marker bead styles, and guru bead options. I made one recently with a pearl at the base of the guru bead instead of a tassel, and Matt liked the aesthetic so much that he's planning on using that method with his next personal mala.

Mother's Day is today, so I put together a pair of earrings for my sister who is considering moving several states away from her children in the coming weeks. I used stones to represent each child, and I'm hoping she can wear them when she's feeling far from them.

Knitting has been on the back burner, but I have lots of projects half-baked in my mind. I did cast on an easy-peasy moebius scarf the other day to sort of cleanse my project palate, and I'm loving the color changes in the yarn. It is yarn that was gifted to me by my work place Secret-Santa last year. :)

Thursday morning I spent longer than I would like to admit searching for packaging paper. I still have no idea where it is, and it makes me feel like maybe I have too many hobbies, and too much stuff....but that can't be right...lol.

Hope you all are doing well and enjoying your days - whether they be in quarantine or out, working or not, rainy or sunny. As my Grandpa Arneson, the farmer, used to say - "we could use the rain". So keep looking on the bright side folks. :) 

When did it become October?

So I'm not quite sure what happened to the last month and a half. September seems like it lasted a day, and here we are again in October. I think the beginning of the school year always does this to me, settling back into a new routine, September seems to be the hardest hit month for me, and the one that goes by faster than all the others. December might run a close second to September though!

So what have I been doing for the past month and a half you might ask. Well, honestly, it went by so fast I kind of forgot to pay attention. I know there was a lot of homework, mostly reading, some housework and some working, along with a little fun - of the MarioKart variety mostly. Matt and I also got to visit a new restaurant, one of our favorite things to do. (It is a new Indian restaurant in town and it is super good! Buffet style, and the menu changes daily!) I think Matt even did a little more pepper picking and processing. I've been trying to get some work done on Etsy, but I feel like every time I sit down with Etsy intentions, my allotted time is gone before I have accomplished half of my desired tasks. I also started a Twitter for Hide and Hair (@hideandhair) but it's hard to keep up with that too! I'm a bit better on Instagram, mostly because I am constantly taking pictures of the kitties! :)

I'm not sure when I'll be back, but I'm hoping soon. Unfortunately, midterms are already looming, so the next week at least will be a little rough on me again. Cross your fingers for me!

But of course it is Friday, so I will leave you with these adorable pictures: