Inventorying All the Things

As I look through many patterns for bags, cowls, and baby sweaters, I wondered just how much yarn, needles, and hooks I had actually acquired over the years.

Garden planning is on the horizon, and I have bins filled with packets and bottles of seeds. I am trying not to buy anything new, though I may be out of some favorites and will need to order again. But I won't know for sure until I look through everything!

So, with my three day weekend in which I also enjoyed many social activities, I found time to pull boxes out of the basement. I used Ravelry's "stash" system to list all the yarn, needles, and hooks. Turns out I have many, many crochet hooks and multiples of 14" knitting needles. I am bringing all of my extras to the next Stitch'n'Bitch to give out to anyone who wants them. Yarn got stowed away in drawers, and implements into another drawer, all set for a rainy day and a new project.

(If you haven't been on Ravelry.com, check it out! Tons of free patterns, and with all the old yarn I have without a project for, I can check their database for patterns used with that same yarn.)

Then I pulled out the bins of seeds. Believe it or not, I have an excel spreadsheet with vegetable, variety, sowing depth, spacing, height, fertilizer needs, and notes of each seed I keep. It helps me decide what to order and what to plant from year to year. Seeds lose their viability over the years, but most can keep for up to three years at a good rate, while some can go for even more.

So, tell me, how do you plan and prepare?

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Friends, Knitting, Pumpkin Soup, Cholent, and Home

How I live for the weekends now. Even if not much exciting is going on, I just like the time to relax, and the time to organize, and the time to socialize. I just like the time to do whatever the hell I please.

We went to a our friends' house for a brunch of whole grain pancakes with blueberries and bananas, and then we spent the day traveling to various places. Having finished Lover's scraf, I started a new one, and a new pattern for me, the Petit Fleur. My good friend Liz and I talked about our upcoming CSA - we are splitting a share from Stone Gardens Farm. We both have our own gardens, but who could resist more fresh veggies, and when you get too much, it's great to share with friends and family.

Liz is a really fabulous person who I see just about every weekend. We're both foodies, we love to garden, and we love to get crafty. In fact, we've decided to start having more crafty times together, and open an Etsy shop should we make too much stuff.

Today was all about the household chores, and then dinner with Lover's parents. They made a Jewish winter dish called cholent - this was my first introduction. Pretty tasty, and easy to throw together. I immediately began looking for vegetarian versions online (they made theirs with a beef layer at the bottom, and I just ate from the top), and I'm thinking it's gonna get made for the next snowstorm.

I also plan on making gingerbread cookies with the cookie cutters I got from Ikea. Yum.

Tasks completed this weekend:

*I sat down to do some creative writing for a while
*I did my taxes. Taxes!
*I made pumpkin soup in the slow cooker using a recipe from the Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly cookbook, with my homemade pumpkin puree.
*I moved all my clothes from the downstairs closet into the upstairs to be in our new bedroom. We put shelving in the closet so now the only things I will hang are dresses and coats - everything else gets folded! I am super thrilled about this. It really is the little things.