Thursday, August 21, 2008

WIPs and some more thrifting finds

Some things I have been working on this week:
My little circle sampler is coming along. Carrie is visiting me this week and I'm going to give it to her. She's starting a nature table and this is going to be part of it. I was going to finish it before she leaves, but we have decided that it would be nice for her to receive a little box sometime after she is home.
And this little cotton kitchen cloth is coming along too. I'm loving working with the variegated yarn--it keeps me interested. My knit stitch is improving a little tiny bit too. I'll probably enclose this is Carrie's box as well.
This is a little crafting corner in the living room at the moment, with my embroidery in the basket. The knitting is in that red case, a find from Jacob's room when we cleaned it out. It was originally a flute case (sort of) from Magic Cabin. It's perfect for my knitting.

And now for the thrifting finds. Carrie was a good sport and went thrifting with me Tuesday. Probably my last thrifting for I don't know how long, since school starts Monday.
Thrifted green and white mug with tree branches. Yellow daisy plates for morning toast.
Stainless steel cup.
Also, my bloggy friend Laura has posted that she will be participating in the 30 Days of Nothing challenge, and I have decided to do it too. Basically, during the month of September we will not buy anything except essentials. How you interpret that is up to you. If you click over to Laura's post, you'll find a link to the original post that explains it all. This is perfect timing for me after the rush of back to school spending that happened over here. For me, the challenge won't be about obsessing over every grocery store purchase or the food we normally buy "out." Those aren't my areas of concern. For me, it's more about not buying craft supplies and fabric, pencils and notebooks, fun stuff at Target, clothes, anything online, books, magazines, markers, coffee out, of course, and all those little extras and frivolities that add up so quickly and so frequently. The goal for me is to be more mindful of my consumption, more grateful for all that I have, and more resourceful in using what is here. I'm really excited and I think it will be refreshing. Anyone else want to play along?

15 comments:

Elfin Goddess said...

Hey! Im up for the "How low can u go" challenge! For the past 3 months since we returned from our longish trip to Singapore, we've realised that we have enough, dont need to buy/ accumulate more stuff, and by enjoying what we have, we're saving more. This is perfect! I'll do a post on this later with the hope that more folks will join in and enjoy this whole process! Cheerio!

The Queen of Fifty Cents said...

The thing that has helped me most in controlling my spending is keeping track of everything I spend. It's easier than it sounds! I keep a little notebook in the kitchen to jot down any cash I spend each day, and once a week I spend about half an hour entering it into Quicken and balancing the checkbook. Seeing where it all goes helps enormously in telling you where to watch yourself. Good luck with September--you'll do fine!

Anonymous said...

You are inspiring me!

Meg said...

First, I love the embroidery! It's so sweet. I'll look into the buy nothing post--I have been going a little crazy with the online shopping this month (early Christmas shopping), so it will be nice to scale back. I have made a conscious effort to stay out of Target as much as possible--it just adds up too quickly in there!

Suzanne said...

Ahh, I can tell you read Amanda's blog , the embroidery looks like hers:-) You did a great job for the first time. Keep knitting , but watch out it is totally addicting!

Its_Lily said...

LOVE the embroidery. So pretty.

I've been on a 'spend less' venture ever since I decided to visit my son in Taiwan this October. Whenever I wanted to buy something I had to ask myself if I was using trip money and how important was the purchase vs. the trip. It made me realize how often I bought things 'just because I could' and now that the trip is funded I'm looking around at things in my house that I just had to have and are now taking up space. I would add a challenge to the buy nothing post and encourage everyone to use September to rid themselves of clutter in their homes. Sell it, donate it, give it away, but just clear it out. After all, look how much extra time we’ll have if we aren’t shopping.

JuliaB said...

oh that sounds like a good challenge to do, so I will join in too. I feel like i've been spending and consuming far too much over the summer hols.

I wrote a blog about the peashoot recipie we were discussing too.
x

amanda said...

I love your circle sampler! Too cute.

I admire the 30 day challenge, and since we are moving in October maybe I should join in too. Less stuff to move that way :)

jessica said...

I love love love your sampler! I've been wanting to do something like this for a while - so creative!

periwinkle said...

the knitting is coming along well ,love the wool,I found this link for you http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/index.php there is some good stuff on there. Hope it helps
lisa x

ames said...

I *love* the embroidery sampler, very beautiful! And your knitting is looking fantastic as well. Isn't variegated yarn fun? I feel a little simplistic getting excited just about what color comes up next, but it adds a nice twist when you're doing the same thing over and over again.

cathleen said...

Pretty photos. I am loving that blue and lavender variegated yarn of yours too.

Megan @ Megity's Handmade said...

My hats off to you for going the month without the extras. I contimplate that so many times and never actually go through with it. Tempting...very tempting.

Anonymous said...

Mindful, grateful, & resourceful - That's what I'm aiming towards during this 30 days of nothing.

It will be cool traveling this path with you and the others. :-)

Owlhaven said...

glad you're playing along!!

Mary