Tuesday, December 30, 2008

trying something new

I decided to get a jump start on the New Year's cleaning (don't we all do that?) and enlisted the help of my hubby to clean and reorganize my office/craft room. Actually, it was mostly his idea b/c he was tired of looking at the mess LOL. Plus we wanted to make it more childproof so that the kids can come in here without destryoing stuff.

Here's what it used to look like: (I also had put up curtains after these photos, some teal and light blue ones that were shiny and gave the room an odd blue hue that I didn't like) My shelves were full of stuff that I didn't need and didn't use, half the drawers were empty and I had a lot of breakable stuff on the bottom.



I had my couch against the window with my desk in front of it, sort of in the middle of the room.


Now my shelves are much neater, we threw out a bunch of crap and put a lot more stuff that I rarely use but didn't want to throw out into the garage. Moved all the breakable and messy stuff to the higher shelves. Right now I have a lot of space on the bottom shelves, and will have more when I move my scrapbooks. I MIGHT put my yarn in here in rubbermaid containers, we'll see. I bought rubbermaid containers to organize my stash closet, and if I can fit it neatly in here I will. If not, it will stay in the closet, and I will put kids' toys in here or something. We're also going to put the toddler table and chair set in here under the window.


My desk and couch are now both along the side wall with my desk under my shelf. I can still reach the shelf, at least until my preggo belly gets too big, and it opens up the rest of the room. My hubby was such a trooper, he moved the furniture around all by himself several times until we were both happy with the arrangement.

These are my two favorite decorations in the room. Not a great photo, sorry, it was dark outside. The lighthouse is a stained/etched glass portrayal of my favorite place in the whole world, the lighthouse in Ludington, Michigan. Mom got it for me there last summer. The other one is a butterfly display that I got a few weeks ago in Branson Missouri at the Butterfly Palace, it is a white and black butterfly with 4 orange and black butterflies arranged around it. So pretty!



This is the view now from my door, compared to the first photo. The doors still open all the way but I usually keep the one door closed. As you can see, my dog likes the new wide open space, and I like not having her crawl under my desk to lay at my feet.



I also decided to be brave and try a new sock heel. I usually did short row heels b/c I don't like cuff down and I didn't want to have to do math. Well, my new sock wizard software that I got for Christmas takes the math out of it, and I wanted my husband's socks to have a heel flap so that they were sturdier in his boots. I had already started them and had the foot mostly done, so I just plugged in a couple different gauges until I got the right number of stitches (my actual gauge is about 7.5 sts per inch but the pattern with this # of sts said 7 sts per inch. Close enough) I also had made the foot a bit long so I had to modify the number of sts to add rather than frog back an inch (I'm lazy) but so far so good. Here is my first toe up sock with a gusset and heel flap!! (Dawn and Suna, aren't you proud? LOL)



And before you ask, YES, this is one single sock. I did 2 at a time until I got to the heel but since I was doing a new heel and heels can be complicated, I decided to finish them individually. These are cammo style socks for my hunter hubbyn and they fit perfectly so far. Sport weight yarn is so much faster! I made a pair for him last spring that were fingering weight on size 1/s, they took FOREVER. These are on size 3's and they seem to be moving faster than socks I make for myself even. He likes thte thickness too so I think from now on he gets sport weight socks. That's the only thing that stopped me from making socks for him before, was the length of time. I hope to have this one done in the next day or two so I can finish the other one. I'm working on that blossom shawl for myself and want to finish it before we go to Florida in Feb, so I have something for breezy nights. We're going on a short trip just the two of us (inlaws will keep the kids) so we can have some Us time before baby #3 arrives. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in and not having to come up with creative and nutritious meals for super picky eaters who think they need to eat 8 times a day. How sad am I?? LOL.
Have a wonderful and safe New Year!









2 comments:

Suna Kendall said...

The room looks great, and yes, I am proud of you. I think toe-up socks with flap heels are my favorite, if I have a favorite, anyway. And for boots, I think sport-weight socks are a great choice. Knit away and have a great New Year! I am envious of your upcoming trip!

Enid said...

The room look excelent and the baby will have room to be on the floor or play while you are knitting relax in your sofa...Yesterday Eli wake up at 5:30 am and knitty gritty was on with a chapter of tow up socks...looks so cool to make.
Gotta put a pic with belly in your blog lady!