A gray day

I took my camera to the beach that is closest to us (a 7-minute walk), to show you the blueness of the water. and the sky But I guess I jinxed the weather because when we walked down the clouds came in and both the sea and the sky turned gray(ish).
But this is Curaçao, so there was still a lot of colors to be found...

Garden therapy

We had the most wonderful weekend. Full of sunsets, swimming, friends, music and good food. And also some hard work away from the computer.
On Saturday morning I felt a bit (ahem, a lot actually) restless and stressed, but I decided to ignore my laptop and head into what will be my garden someday to attack the thornbushes in that space.
That was the right decision. I should have known there's nothing better to work off frustration then clearing big spaces from weeds. Or thorns in this case.

My arms and legs are scratched and I'm still a long way from having that space completely cleared and ready for planting, but I do feel up to facing my e-mail and editing work again.

I told T. to remind me of this and to kick me into the garden when I mention I feel restless and stressed again. Garden therapy always works for me.

Wishing you all a good start to your week!

Crafty goals

I didn't have much time for crafting last week. But that's okay. There was swimming, talking, laughing, reading and other good stuff instead.

Last week's list:

/ work on the cowl -> just a few rows. Need to concentrate a bit on the pattern. Not that it's that hard to follow, but with D. here, there's just too much distraction. Oh well, it can wait.
/ make covers for the top of our chair cushions. They get greasy really fast (from sweaty and salty hair) and washing the cushions is not that easy. They dry slowly and it costs too much electricity each time -> Started simple granny squares, but it's going slowly.


This week's list:

- work on the cowl
- work on covers for the top of our chair cushions

Let's see how far I can get...

Three things

When I'm too busy to write real blog posts, it's always a good time to focus on the little things that make me happy. So that's what you get today.

Three things that made me smile this week:

1. Parrots! They fly over our house often, but they hardly ever sit down close enough to take pictures of them. I do love the thought that these are 'everyday birds' here.

2. Rainbows. We see a lot of those lately too. Well yes, that also means we have a lot of rain, but hey, we need rain for the garden. And I love seeing rainbows! This was actually a double, but the camera didn't pick up the fainter one.

3. This cat and his shenanigans. Such a quirky mixture between a domesticated house cat and a wild stray.

Linking up with Carole's Three on Thursday

Crafty goals

This week was... well, busy. Mostly in a good way, but I am at that point again where I know I need to plan better or I will feel overwhelmed. Or actually, I'm already past that point, which is why I always get stuck there. I'm already at the phase of "just get it done and I'll think about how to plan better later". And when later arrives, I'm just too tired, or I think it wasn't all that bad. Until I get two editing assignments, a writing project and a lot of bookkeeping on my list again. Besides that big house and giant garden and a daughter visiting.
Anyway. Mostly fun and I will get through eventually. But if you know an easy and free but brilliant way to plan these things (lots of different jobs for only one person), please let me know!

Anyway, on to the crafting. I keep telling myself these lists are for fun and so far, that works. They do help me to focus on just a few projects instead of making myself crazy with all the possibilities.

Last week's list:

✔ start the cowl - I did and I love it so far! It's going slowly though because I don't have that much time to read and follow a pattern.
✔ make a headband - finished it this morning.
X start the doll (or one of the other toys)


This week:

- work on the cowl
- make (crochet? - I have to think about it) covers for the top of our chair cushions. They get greasy really fast (from sweaty and salty hair) and washing the cushions is not that easy. They dry slowly and it costs too much electricity each time

What are you making this week?

Happy

Three things that make me happy today:

- my daughter visiting. It's so much fun to have her around (and she's staying for four weeks).

- work coming in. Yes, it makes me a little bit nervous to have a lot to do these months (need to learn to plan better), but I'm so very grateful that some writers even ask for me as an editor.

- my mother still going (relatively) strong. She's now planning for a little vacation in February.


Linking up with Carole's Three on Tuesday

Progress report :: the guest room

I have this thing about painting. I would very much like to be the kind of woman that just goes ahead and paints some walls when she feels like it. But I am not. At all. I tend to procrastinate when I really need to paint and I never paint for fun. I think it has something to do with perfectionism. At least that's what I was thinking when I finally painted the walls of the guest room this Sunday.
We've known D. was coming to visit since. August, so it should have been done a long time ago. But I first needed to accept (yes, there's that word again) that the result would be better-looking walls, not perfection. And I needed to accept that I make a giant mess while painting. No matter how many precautions I take, I always end up with paint all over myself and usually over the floor also. But hey. We do have a shower (though it's kind of cold this time of year - no boiler, less sun) and the floor is tiled, so easily scrubbed clean.
Anyway. Long story short, I painted the guest room.
D. was going to arrive on Tuesday. We already ordered the bed on December 29th, but the delivery service was having a Christmas break, so it arrived on Tuesday. I went shopping for curtains and bedding on Monday and I also did a second layer of paint that day, so we had to do all the decorating (and bringing all the books back in) on Tuesday. Yes, that's cutting it close.
But it all worked out. When D. arrived, the room was waiting for her. And I really like how it looks.
Especially compared to what we started with last May...

Before:

We put in a window, replaced the bars and ripped out and replaced the ceiling last year.
During:

And this is what it has looked like ever since - until last Sunday:

And now it looks like this.

It still needs something on the walls and those books will be on shelves eventually, but for now, I'm very happy with it.

2019 :: knitting

2019 wasn't my best knitting year. Well, it wasn't my best year whatsoever, but I am writing a post about knitting because I already wrote about finding home and I didn't want to get too deep into the other things that happened this year.
Still, there was some knitting and I did find comfort in that. Looking at this list, it's funny to see that I have been winging it most of the time. The house slippers were made from a (very simple) pattern, but other than that, I just knitted away.
That explains why this isn't the most interesting list of knitting, but I had fun making each and every one of these items and that's what counts.

In 2019 I knit:


:: the sunset shawl (top picture)
:: a rectangle 
:: two headbands
:: eleven hats (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,, eight, nine, ten, eleven)
:: giant potholders
:: a poncho (or large cowl) (second picture)
:: four dishcloths (that were supposed to be potholders)
:: a sweater dress
:: a green cowl
:: a little circle to put under our tiny Christmas tree
:: a pair of simple house slippers

 If I have to pick a favorite, I guess it would be my sweater dress. I wore it (paired with a long sleeve shirt and leggings) a lot during our time in The Netherlands, it was just perfectly warm and comfortable.

(p.s. yes, I know I'm a bit late with this post, but I wrote it last week and then I forgot about it.)

Happy Monday!

We had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday we met with some friends on the beach. We had a bbq to celebrate the new year and just sat and ate and talked and did nothing at all. It was good.

On Sunday we both felt rested enough to tackle a few things around the house. I decided that the guest room needed to be painted after all before D. arrives. That's cutting it close because she arrives tomorrow and I still need to do a second layer. I also have to go shopping both for groceries and for things for that room. The bed arrives tomorrow, hopefully.

Anyway, I've got a busy day and week ahead, but I don't feel overwhelmed, it's going to be fun.

Wishing you all a great start to your week too.

Crafty goals

So here we are. A new year. So much time to make so many things.
I'd like to join other makers and list all the things I want to make this year.
But to be honest, I'm feeling a bit uninspired. I love making hats, cardigans and sweaters, but I really want to shift my focus to making things I can use or donate here on Curaçao (donating to charities overseas is an option, but really expensive).

I did buy a lot of cotton yarn when I was in The Netherlands, both new and thrifted, so that limited stash I used to have to deal with is no longer a problem. I also bought some acrylic yarn that would be lovely as a cowl or shawl (those jelly rolls in the middle of the picture), so I think I will start that cowl/showl pattern soon.

But other than that... I don't know.

There's a whole lot of that blue cotton and I think I want to make something (a wide sweater or a kimono) to wear over my swimsuit at the beach, but I don't think I can handle that much lace. This page gave me some ideas though. Drop stitch! Brilliant.

I'd like to try and make some stuffed animals (lots of children here to give them too), but I'd have to use patterns that you need to follow row by row (I like mindless repeats) and dpn's. Those are both things that scare me right now. Dpn's for finishing a hat are okay though, so maybe I'm just being silly. And well, I have to get used to shaping and tight knitting and things like that before I can try to figure things out for myself (my favorite way of knitting).
I did a little search and here are some patterns that I like: owl, fish, doll, sea creatures, teddies (not on dpn's - ha!)

Oh, and bags. I could try to knit bags. Those are shapes I should be able to figure out without a pattern... And of course, I could use some headbands. I never made any more than the two I originally made, because I didn't like the yarns I had for that, but I do have some great options now. And if I want easy knitting it might be a great idea to start knitting some placemats, because I have some not washable store-bought ones that are getting gross.

Ha. I guess the best solution for feeling uninspired is to write a blog post about it. Kind of like thinking aloud.

Here's my list for this week:

- start the cowl
- make a headband
- start the doll (or one of the other toys)

Sewing? Not going to happen this month. Our oldest daughter will arrive Tuesday for a four week (!) stay and I don't think I will have any time to sew.

One word, three things

 

Just like last year, I had a hard time accepting the word that was coming to my mind when I started thinking about what word would be fitting for 2020.
Ironically that is exactly why I chose it. My word will be "accept".
I could make a long, long list of things I need to learn to accept, but I think listing three is enough for now (I think I will write about this about once a month).

- things I cannot change
I know. So cliche. But also, so true. I'm constantly stressed out and tired because I'm constantly trying to fight, change or at least be prepared for the hard things in life. But I need to accept that my mother is going to die this year, that my father is ill too, that the girls will have their own problems and that more bad things will happen. I know, this sounds very depressing, but I hope this will free my mind and help me to notice and enjoy the good things in life.

- my body
Age, allergies, gaining weight... I have a hard time accepting that my body is not doing what I want it to do. And that doesn't help to take better care of it. I want to stop fighting my body and to start nourishing it.

- other people (how they interact with me)
I have a hard time coping with how people treat me (or others). I can worry for hours when somebody says or does something harsh even if it was just a stranger that bumped into me and told me to be more careful. I need to accept that not everybody will like me and that even people who do like me will sometimes say something unfriendly. I want to learn to let it go, to focus on kindness and friendship.

Linking up with Carole's Three on Thursday

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you!

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. – Albert Einstein