Let's catch up, shall we?

I don't know why I haven't been writing. I suppose it's a mixture of busy and sick children and work and house cleaning and repairs and all of that.

Sometimes blogging becomes a chore. I don't want it to be. It's something I enjoy and a space where I can be me, but with less curse words because my mom reads it.

So when I last left you (other than my monthly newspaper column, which doesn't count) everyone was sick.

Guess what? Everyone is sick. Again.

Actually it's just the kids, but the oldest one is sick enough for us all. They both have strep, but Sebastian is the only one who has had a fever. Adele tires out easily, which isn't normal for her. And Sebastian lays around all day, too wobbly to really do much of anything.

I would very much like for all of this funk to leave our house, especially now, in the summer.

I've been steadily working at home, and telling my husband daily that I love my job. Because I love my job. I work when there is work, and it's work I really enjoy. And when there's not work I can work around the house and be with my kids and not waste my time staring at blank walls in a closet.

I really, really love my job.

I've also been sewing, because summer is for sewing, right? I've made dresses for Adele and myself, and have plans for skirts and tops.  I just finished up Me Made May 2015, and noticed something about my sewing - it's not really all that practical. I have a ridiculous amount of dresses. My closet is overflowing with them. But sometimes I don't feel like wearing dresses. I don't have a lot of separates. I want to sew jeans, but they're intimidating. But I will do it. Most definitely.  I also would like to sew more casual, everyday knit tops. But knit fabric is a pain for me. What I need to do is spend some time researching tips and tricks instead of just diving in to things.

Ideally I'd like to have most of my wardrobe be handmade - whether it's hand knits or sewn items. I don't know if it's possible, but I have the curse of my mother. I see things at the store I like and can't help but think "I can make that!"

At least most of my jewelry is handmade. I very rarely wear a piece I haven't made myself, though I have an embarrassing amount of non-me-made necklaces hanging up in my bedroom.

So, just for kicks, let's take a look back at my me-mades over the past month. I made it all but a couple of days, but there are some repeats. I've only sewn one pair of shorts and there were some really warm days.

Without further ado, here are a bunch of embarrassing selfies, most in front of a dirty bathroom mirror.  Also I cheated a bit on some days with hand knits and handmade jewelry. If you have any questions about patterns and fabric, just ask! And if you were interested in any of the jewelry, there's a link to my shop at the top right of the page!

And I have how many days left until they go back to school?

I am currently 56 percent zombie, 41 percent coffee and the rest cracker candy.

That's because my sweet 4-year-old Adele had a minor freakout at 2 in the morning in the form of hysterical screaming about spiders in her bed.  (Spiders this time, not snakes.)  And so I lay with her for awhile to calm her down, and I noticed that she sounded horribly congested and wouldn't stop coughing.  I got her some cough medicine and hippie decongestant salve and returned to my own bed, hoping to quickly return to sleep.  I knew it was wishful thinking because I am self aware, but still.  I wanted to believe it was possible.

But then, of course, Adele began fake crying because she's not supposed to get out of bed and that was her way to get our attention.  She's not supposed to get out of bed because for the past few weeks (WEEKS) she has come downstairs in the middle of the night to our bed.  We let her stay for a bit then one of us (me) will carry her back to her own bed.  And neither parent goes back to sleep.

So instead of coming downstairs after we told her not to she put her head right by her door and fake cried until I made it back upstairs.  I gave up at that point.

I stayed in her bed until around 5.  I think I slept some.  A bit.  But not nearly enough.  And today I needed to run to the store for jewelry supplies because I had two necklace orders and desperately needed chains even though I was sure I'd bought an obscene amount the last time I stocked up and how did I go through so many so fast?  (Obviously, this is a good problem to have.  Just not today.)

So the kids and I went out, me partially awake and Adele majorly tired and possibly on the verge of a meltdown.  But luckily that didn't show up until we were waiting in line at the bookstore to get a drink and I refused to buy her a cookie.  We were at the bookstore because I didn't have the energy to disagree with my son who really, really wanted to go there.  That's also how we ended up with a chapter book.  Well, that and I'm a sucker for books and it's pretty awesome that he's reading chapter books and I'm ok with encouraging it.

And maybe I would have been okay with buying a cookie for the kids if they hadn't spent the entire weekend eating nothing but sugar.  We had three parties to go to on Saturday which included cupcakes and gingerbread house and cookie decorating and hot chocolate and chocolate covered pretzels and - and - and ...

And on Sunday we had my parents' Christmas party where the rest of us ate lasagna but my two unnatural children don't actually like lasagna and so survived on Pez.

So I thought I'd attempt to get them back on some sort of halfway-healthy-type of food plan, which didn't include overpriced cookies from the bookstore cafe.  Adele flipped out so we left that line and went in the book-buying line, which actually was longer than the over-priced coffee and cookie line.  And she wouldn't stop flipping out so I put her Barbie book back and just bought Sebastian's book because he was behaving like a civilized human being.

And then she screamed in the car when she realized I hadn't bought her book.

Thems the breaks, kid.

We went home and ate lunch and Adele took a nap, which means that she was exceptionally tired because she didn't even protest me forcing her in her room all that much.  I honestly think she was a little relieved.

I probably should have taken a nap myself but I had three baskets of laundry to fold and Gilmore Girls to marathon and so I just made another pot of coffee and had a few more bites of cracker candy an considered myself sustained.

Lest you think I was completely neglecting my older child, he was around, and perfectly behaved because he spent his afternoon watching youtube videos of a boy opening toys and playing with them.  Now, I don't necessarily understand the concept of evantube, but it keeps him occupied.

Good Lord, is it only the first day of Christmas break?

Spreading the Christmas cheer one animal sacrifice at a time

I maybe forgot I had a blog.

Okay - I didn't forget.  I spend every morning for the last little bit (when was the last time I actually wrote something?) planning to write, telling myself to write, even writing posts in my head.

But I seem to have forgotten to actually write.

But I'm here now!  At least for today, and really, that's all I can commit to because time and Christmas and work and all that.

My I Love Kentucky necklaces have become popular all of the sudden, with mucho orders coming in. (Maybe it was because of the giveaway?) Every time I see a new order I grin and tell my husband how excited I am because SOMEONE WANTS TO BUY SOMETHING I MADE!  You have no idea how happy it makes me.  I am goofy with joy.  There'as also been some interest in my new personalized motherhood necklace.  I wear mine all the time, myself,with my kids' initials stamped on the little hearts.  My son likes to see it on me and comments on how I like to keep him close to my heart.  I sure do, buddy.

So what with all the grinning and the celebrating people buying things and the making I am a bit booked up, you know?

And then, on top of that I decided last minute - as per my usual schedule - that I would hand-knit some presents for people.  Every year I say no - I'm not going to put myself through it because it's ridiculous to stress myself out as much as I do and also I have a million other things that require my attention.  And then I change my mind very close to Christmas because handknits are awesome and I like to spread happiness in the form of wool.  And that leaves me scrambling and up late and sore-wristed from all the knitting.  I think it will be manageable this year, though.  I've chosen a quick pattern and everyone gets the same thing.  So maybe it won't be so bad?

Do I say that every year?  I feel like I say that every year.

We'll see.

I also have lots of baking/food making to get done.  And birthday parties to go to and Christmas parties and then there's my annual animal sacrifice for snow on Christmas.  (I'm kidding. No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog post, or in the hopes of creating snow.)

This time of year is fantastic, isn't it?  I've honestly been a bit grumpy about the whole thing, trying to make myself feel more Christmas cheer than I do.  But I think maybe my standards are too high.  It's okay for me not to be ebullient over everything Christmas related.  I am all grown up now, even though I don't always feel like it.  Of course the season isn't going to be the same as it was when I was a kid so I should probably try to stop focusing on why I don't feel the way I feel like I should feel.  You feel me?

Instead, now I can create all that magic for my little monsters.  I can make the days exciting and full of all that stuff that made me so Christmasy in days past.

Which is a pretty great gig, if you can get it.

It's a giveaway ... and a thank you

I've been selling quite a few of my I Love Kentucky necklaces, and it makes me happy because I love the necklace so much myself.  It makes me feel good, you know?  Kentucky is home, and a beautiful place to be from, and full of the best people.

So when I was contacted by Kentucky Family Fun to see if I was willing to do a giveaway of the necklace, I thought it was an awesome idea because giveaways = fun.

You can read the story behind me and the necklace here: Kentucky Family Fun Contest

And if you are so inclined, enter the giveaway here:  Kentucky Family Fun Facebook

And don't be sad if you don't win!  You can always buy your own for yourself or as a gift for a loved one. Or you can buy some baby legwarmers from the shop.  Because you can never have too many baby legwarmers.

Guys.  I am not a brand, nor am I a business in the grand sense of the word.  I make things I like in my spare time and sell them to people who will appreciate what I've done.  And you have no idea how good it makes me feel to have someone interested in something I've created.  I've been reading through the entries and I'm almost positive I can feel my heart growing at all the nice things people are saying about the necklace.

Now before I make some of you barf with all of my schmooshy words, I will just end with thank you for supporting me.

Homemade Friday: Warm, Soft Felted Mittens

Winter is coming.

I know, I know.  It's an overdone cliche of a phrase at this point.  I  blame the fact that for some reason we have free HBO streaming with our cable at the moment and have been able to catch up on Game of Thrones.  (Nobody say anything.  I don't want them realizing they've made a mistake before I finish watching the rest of True Blood.)

Cliche though it may be, it's a phrase I've repeated often to myself over the last few weeks.  Winter is coming and I'm not prepared.  I'm a knitter, which means it's against the knitters' code and handbook and pinky promise to buy winter hats and scarves and socks.  And now that I can make gloves, I probably have to add those to the list.  That's not to say that I don't buy them when I have to.  I just feel really, really guilty when I resort to store-bought winter items.

And so the pressure builds to Make All Of The Things, especially since this winter is supposed to be as hard or harder than last winter, which was pretty brutal compared to normal Kentucky winters.

Sebastian may be okay on his hat for this year, as I think his last one still fits.  (Remember the Snowflake Hat?)  And if he can't wear it, then Adele can.  So I'll only have to make one hat for the kids.  But I'd like one for myself because I haven't made one in awhile.  And Chris will need one.  Then there are scarves.  Everybody needs scarves.  And socks - which are a bit time-consuming on account of the thin yarn and tiny needles.  And gloves.  Everyone needs gloves.

Add to this the fact that I am attempting to prepare for a festival by knitting the crap out of some washcloths and hats and whatever else is quick and practical and beautiful, and you can see that I am constantly consumed with thoughts of yarn.  But it's a good type of obsession.  The only issue is the amount of projects I want to knit versus the realistic amount of time I have to work on them.  But I'm okay with that.

However, sometimes I'm a selfish knitter, and can't force myself to stop working on a completely elective and unnecessary sweater for myself even though I have a ton of other practical and necessary things to knit.  In case you were curious, it's the Starbrook Pullover and I love it so much.

These felted mittens were an experiment of sorts.  I began them because I knew they would be fast and I was hoping to be able to knit a few pairs before the festival.  I think they're practical and kind of awesome, you know?  The whole felting process is pretty remarkable to me.  You take something you've knit, that is huge and loose-gauged and ridiculously floppy, and run it through the washing machine a few times and create a solid, warm, strong item.

As with most things I make to sell, I want to keep it.  It is difficult to let go of something I've taken the time to design and fight with.  But ultimately, most of what I make is for other people.  I like seeing people enjoy things I create.  It's rewarding and awesome and puts a huge smile on my face.

So these will go to the sell stack.  And if they don't sell, well, then maybe they'll find their way back to my hands.

(Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your own hands?

(Also - if anyone is interested in purchasing them - you can find them here! I can also make them in any size or color so feel free to design your own!)

(And if you'd like another look at the shop, you can find it here:  jaimalaya on Etsy.)

Homemade Friday: Etsy shop update!

I'd like to have something a bit more concrete to show you other than stuff I'd like to sell, but sleep wasn't happening last night so I'm moving a bit slow.

My daughter, for the past two nights has woken up in the middle of the night and last night she wouldn't go back to sleep and so my husband went up after I'd already tried laying next to her for an hour and a half with no success.  But my daughter is a Mama's girl to a ridiculous extent and would not be consoled so Chris just brought her down to our bed where no one slept for an hour and then my husband got up because it was already 4:30 and he's insane but Adele and I went back to sleep and I woke up with her foot in my neck because I live in a house with people who are incapable of staying still when they sleep and who toss and turn and roll around and end up with their foot in my neck.

So anyway, all I have for you today is a shop update.  I've been making things - jewelry and such - fairly regularly but updating the shop always takes a bit more work than I think it's going to.

But it's done.  For now.  Please to be enjoying and sharing!

(Also - please by stuff!  Tell your friends!)

(Also again - I think it's naptime.)

Here's the link:

jaimalaya's shop of curiosities or maybe just jewelry and baby sweaters

Or you can get to it by clicking that box on the top right of the blog.

Etsy is the place to be

So I finally opened an Etsy shop, as you can tell from that widget thing that's to the right of your screen.

And it's a little ridiculous how much fun I've been having making things for it.  I've mostly made jewelry, but there are a couple of hand knit hats, and I'm working on more.

I told my husband that really, that's my dream.  That's what I want to do with my life.  I want to make things and sell them.

I haven't actually sold anything yet, but I have high hopes.  Or at least a positive attitude?

I'm not the best at self-promotion, but here's the link to my shop:

jaimalaya

Or you can just click on that little Etsy box on the right.

Stop by and take a look! 

And if you like, share with friends.