So Proud of My Mom!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=715765281781914&set=a.405503582808087.97432.367003529991426&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf

Basking in the Glow!

Through experience, I'm always a little leery of acknowledging accomplishments.  Icarus flew too close to the sun and look what happened to him! Pride goeth before the fall! Nevertheless, I conquered my own fear of failure on a couple of fronts which has recently resulted in this opportunity to 'bask in the glow!'  I also learned a great deal of new information that I would not have acquired any other way than through a huge expenditure of energy, effort and time! 

What were these accomplishments?  First, I volunteered to teach as a sabbatical replacement two courses at the college level that I enjoyed as a student.  This experience, despite the toll it took on my time, energy and nerves, was a resounding success and I and my students learned a great deal. I enjoyed the experience and had wonderful class evaluations as a reward.  I recently have had to reprise this experience, quite unexpectedly, and I am again basking in the glow of the kind and appreciative words the students had for my performance as a teacher - albeit for just the last 2 weeks of the semester for a colleague who became gravely ill.  It is truly wonderful to be acknowledged in such a way.  Since I now need to teach the next class as a replacement for this colleague, I hope to continue to earn such praise!

Second, I plunged into designing my own knitting pattern and offering it for sale, again learning a great deal along the way.  This new pattern has met with great success and I enjoy seeing others creating their own versions of my design.  Recently, I received this note from a satisfied customer:

"Hey there,
Just wanted to say thank you for such a great pattern. I’ve made 3 of these now. A lady wanted the red one off my back in the airport for a breast cancer charity auction, my best friend wanted one and I finally have one for myself. I lined the last two for a little more warmth and flair. I should take more pictures but I never seem to remember.
I wore my navy one to the mall and walked into Brooks Brothers. The clerk swore it looked like one they had for sale. Except theirs are over $300 and machine made. Keep the great patterns coming!"

The design bug has continued and I now have 5 patterns for sale on Ravelry.com!  Yay!

Third, I read an online article concerning a Master Hand Knitter Program and I was intrigued. This sounded like not only a good way to learn a great deal but also a way to stretch and challenge myself.  I signed up for the first of three Levels last March 1 and plunged in.  Whoa!  What a challenge it proved to be!  My biggest and worst obstacle was my fear of being judged a failure.  As I stewed and 'chewed my nails' I worked on a number of other projects, including remodeling a great deal of my house with my handy husband (that was also a huge success which we are now enjoying!).  Finally I decided to just 'get 'er done!'  I mailed my notebook containing all that hard work on Sept. 24, 2013 after putting in a good month and a half of intense effort.  I received my notebook back along with a 5 page letter carefully critiquing every stitch and sentence with suggestions for improvement. I needed to correct a few things. On 1/7/2014 I received word that my resubmissions had passed and that I had officially passed Level One of The Knitting Guild Association's Master Hand Knitting Program!  Wow!  Did I ever stretch and learn through this process.  Now it is time to briefly 'bask in the glow' and plunge into Level II and more college teaching :-)

In Style Magazine / Ravelry Design Match Up

http://gypsyfusion.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/instyle-magazine-to-ravelry-matchmaker-vol-2-capes-and-plaid/

So! I guess capes are the thing now according to InStyle ! I received the following message on Ravelry today which made me smile:

"blog post picture permission request
Sent at 11:04 PM Yesterday

Hello,

I wanted to ask if it was okay to post a picture of your project in my blog. I am matching up Ravelry patterns to pictures of knits I found in September’s InStyle magazine. Your project picture and design is a great match for an element in one of the InStyle spreads.

Here is the post as it is now, on my blog:

http://gypsyfusion.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/instyle-magaz...

I’m doing 3 posts about knits in InStyle, and your project is listed in post 2."

How cool is that!?! My cape pattern has been selling very well this past month. :-)

Beautiful Bogs!

We are blessed to have two very unique natural wonders nearby; the Triangle Lake Bog Nature Preserve near Ravenna and the Cooperrider Bog in Kent.  We armed ourselves with cameras and bug spray and visited yesterday with my Brother and Sister-in-Law.  The day was filled with intermitant thunderstorms which we managed to miss while visiting each bog (it got revenge though when we went to Bar145 - a wonderful restuarant in Kent, Ohio!).  Here are some of the better pictures from the day!  Enjoy!

Little Gray Bicycle Purse !

I had fun designing this sweet little purse!  It was a fun, quick project with gratifying results!  I find it to be just the right size to hold the few essentials I need when shopping where a bigger purse just weighs you down and gets in the way.  I just finished writing up the pattern and it is now posted on Ravelry!

Master Bathroom Redo and Craft Room Reorganization!

We are nearly finished updating our Master Bathroom which is located off from our Bedroom.  Here is an "old" picture.  This picture doesn't show the peeling paint and missing tiles around the shower.....

Here is our new bathroom!  Love it!!!!

Newly remodeled craft room!!!!  Super love it!  This is a very tiny room so it was quite a challenge fitting everything in.  I read somewhere that to organize well, everything needs to have a "home".  This is what I tried to do in my craft room.  I got the fabric red and green bins and the white shelving unit at Big Lots and the white glass front cabinet at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $25!  The table top mannikins were purchased by my mother from a store going out of business for $5 each.  I made the jointed Teddy Bear and Rocking Horse years ago.  I've sold several like these in the past. The cape is my first original design.  The pattern is on sale on Ravelry (Cabled Fall Celebration Cape).

Powerpoint of our kitchen remodeling process!

If you would like to see the process and progress on our kitchen so far you are invited to view the Powerpoint found at the link below.  You will need to click on “download media” (this will take a few minutes - lots of pictures!) and then click on “slide show” and “from beginning”.  After that the slides advance automatically 

Enjoy!

Willa

schrlauws@hiram.edu has invited you to view content on Screencast.com: http://www.screencast.com/t/gJafvrh3gY Title: Kitchen 2013 ! Description: The process of remodeling our kitchen from old kitchen to almost finished new kitchen!