My Jar is Full of Love and Gratitude

Hello,

The week is on a roll here and I had so many plans to keep up with my de-cluttering and deep Spring cleaning, although I do believe we will have a cold March here in the North Georgia mountains.
My early morning quiet time started with Krispy Kreme Chocolate doughnuts as a surprise that my dearest husband got me this morning to go with my coffee. That was nice to wake up to! Then after a  couple of cups of coffee, I could clear my mind to get back busy with routine homestead goings and comings.

After moving furniture around yesterday, I've been on and off the heating pad with a little achies and painies, and taking breaks to continue purging out things that I either don't love, didn't like, have too many of, will not need, haven't used in years, and doesn't bring good memories.

I sat down in between and have almost completed my Lacy Keyhole Scarf that I showed you in my last post and after I finish writing this I will be onto working my purl ridges and lace rows and then weaving in and together for a gorgeous scarffette for Spring!


In the midst of repurposing some things, I made this LOVE jar. Acronym for

Left
Over
Voluminous
Ends of skein

 

Love Jar

 

I had these tiny balls of leftover skeins in my basket and decided to put them all in this jar. Who knows what I will do with them?????? They were too much leftover to throw away but really too big for a regular project. Abbie might get a unique blanket this way?

 

She definitely is taking a snoozer this morning.

 

 

Just falling into the toss pillows on the sofa in deep sleep. :0

 

I think she is content.

 

Maybe a little bit spoiled.

 

She's had her belly rub, her back rub, her treat, and then she is ready for a midday nap when the woodstove gets going.

 

I'm playing around with my camera that I got and it's pretty impressive for an inexpensive one.
I took this of something in my yard standing in my dining room. The zoom is excellent.

 

Do you like to re-purpose items in your home?

 

Are you surrounding your home with things you love?  I find that through life's journey that when one area of our lives changes, it plays a domino effect in our home. Things change. Age changes. Sometimes things that simply were functional are not so now.

I can't afford to completely re-design our house but I certainly can make it a goal to re-arrange, purge out the bad or nonfunctional, and be content with what I have.

 

And simplicity brings almost as much contentment as knitting and cross stitching. It's a part of letting-go in a good way.

 

The way I am doing this is really sorting out "things" and those that do not function or work for me anymore in this life stage, those things my adult kids did not care to take, and those things that bring not such a good memory with it, will be going to a charitable foundation so that other people can love them.

 

 Paying it forward is a win-win situation.

 

 

The giver is relieved of too much clutter and stress it creates and the receivers are blessed with something they can use or love.

 

I got the sweetest note from the person I got my Chiao Goo knitting needle set from. I knew it was a GREAT deal and grabbed them when I could. I wouldn't be able to have a set if not.

I had been looking at the interchangeable set of circulars for a year or more.

It's not required to write a thank you note to an Ebayer but in my heart something just told me to thank the seller and how much I appreciated the needles so much and otherwise would not have been able to have them without their passing on to me or whoever.

 

Last night I received this reply in the message box:

 

"This email made my day! I'm so happy I could be of help to a fellow knitter! Knitting has also been a sanity saver for me. I just don't know if I'd be sane without it these past few years! I bought those needles last year and they just never worked for me so I'm so happy you're enjoying them and I got the cash to move on to something that fits in my hands better.
Thank you for sending me the message - it truly made my day to hear how happy they've made you -
Sincerely,
Anne"

 

 

 

 

 

sizes 2-15

compact

many cables, markers, just like brand new

 

 

 

To me, this is what life is about. I took items that I would never even miss cluttering my basement and passed on the items to others. In exchange, I've been able to get the set of needles for 1/3 of the cost of another new set, or almost half. I give the person something in exchange and she then has the means to get her something that is useful for her. I didn't realize that passing the kindness in a written thank you note would be so important to her.

 

I think sometimes all of us just don't (me included) thank people enough and gratitude goes a long way. I told my husband, "if all the world would be this honest and thankful like this knitter, the world would be a much better place".

 

I hope to share my gratitude more. I think there are people in this world we live in now that need it more than ever, including myself. I don't always do it but I strive to do it more. It means so much.

 

I hope you have a great evening and I thank you for taking time out to read a few of my humble thoughts and views of my journey.

 It means a lot to me.

More than you know.

 

Just your presence of words can be a blessing to others.

 

Till later,

Jennifer

 

Monday Organizing and Finding Stash Yarn

Hello,

It's that day of the week we all plan out and hope to get some goals achieved. Some people go at Monday morning with much energy and direction, setting goals and organized for usual areas in their life.

Right now, in my journey, I'm still following through with the goals I had set for 2014 at the homestead. It's part of the Keeping it Simple one. I'm amazed at how much FREE help there is online for organizing and de-cluttering tips. You tube has been a great life-saver for me in this area.

We all want to "keep our stuff". But there comes a time to de-clutter and organize because it makes our environment and minds much less stressed, we can find things and not repurchase things, and just sets a better mood in our nests.

Combined with the beautiful sunny and mild day here in the mountains of North Georgia, I am working today on the "Keeping Room" and the Dining Room and Kitchen. I've worked at it in rearranging some furniture, probably against doctor's advice with a herniated disc, and now on a heating pad on my back; however, I already feel a better flow in the house and getting rid of clutter and organizing has helped my mind already. I also feel my sciatic nerve in my left bum too. :(

I have a grand piano in the space and it's not moving. So........that gives me unlimited options for other pieces of furniture to make it more usable for the space, yet homey and calming.

This morning, I worked on 30 minutes of this scarf. It's another Lacy Keyhole Scarf designed by Stephanie Japel on Craftsy.com.

This yarn I found, while in the organizing of my yarn stash basket. I had forgot about it. I got it last year in Washington, DC at LOOPED, a candy yarn shop for all knitters out there. I only have one skein, about 175 yards, so I extended the garter sections of the two pieces to make it a little longer. It's still a very feminine scarfette with lace on the end and I just love these.
This skein is very special because it is high end yarn and I found it when organizing my stash!!!!!!

 

This is absolutely the softest yarn. It's 30% silk and 70% extra fine Peruvian wool

Calls for a needle size between 4-6.

I'm using a 6 so the lacy ends will open up more. I like the curling at the ends so I don't usually block these. I'm kinda girly like that.

The colorway is called Wildflowers.

It's very muted and soft as you can see in the picture.

 

 

This is just making a really special, silk blend, soft scarfette for Spring.

 

 

Half is finished, now on to the other half.

 

 

The kitchen countertop background is probably not the best to show the muted colors but................anyhoo.

 

Back to cleaning up and organizing. Just wanted to take a few minutes and drop a line or two or three...or more.

 

I baked a ham last weekend and then we had ham in all ways known to man all week. The hambone made excellent dried navy bean soup with cornbread.

 

And guess who, finally got the big bone for one day?

 

 

Excuse the floors and surrounding. I'm sure you know how it is when you move furniture.

 

Did you see the last episode of Downton Abbey last night? At least this year it was a good ending! What did you think about it???

You think Edith will bring her daughter back?

I love that movie and will miss it until next January.

 

I hope to hear some comments to let me know you at least are still out there in blog land. I love to read them!!

 

So let's create today on Monday. Right now I've created a mess that I have to clean up........and dust....oh my.

 

I need to go junkin' for a really ultra cheap but good deal of a bookcase about 32 tall and 24 wide. More on that later.

 

I designed a new sampler and will be put on my FB page for a week or so soon so "like" my FB page Feathers in the Nest, and see what extras are out there for you. Love to hear from people all over the world!

 

Stay warm and cozy,

Jennifer