Yarn Along

I have so many DIY and handmade projects to do this year that I figured I'd better get a jump on some of them. If you saw my living room style board post yesterday, you know that I am crocheting my own area rug. This is a HUGE task, but I think I am up for the challenge.

Instead of doing a chevron rug, since my throw is grey and white chevron, I have decided to make yellow and white stripes. I found this rug somewhere on Pinterest and am using it as my inspiration.

The good news is I have a ton of yellow/mustard/gold yarn that I got several years ago from a family friend. 

I am so glad I can destash some of it. Yes, I have more than in this picture!

The white is actually more of a snow white than a bright white. Since I have a canvas couch, I thought the bright white would be too white.

I did a swatch last night to see how I liked the stripes.

At the time I did, but now I think I'm going to make the gold stripes a little larger and the white stripe smaller. I'm thinking 10-12 rows of yellow to 6 rows of white. Or maybe 8 rows of each. I'm still not sure, so I'll be doing another swatch tonight to see which works better.

As far as my reading, I picked up Writing the Fiction Series book at B&N. I've decided to make my book into a series, so I thought this book would really help me. While it offered some useful advice, it really wasn't that great. I am glad I used my B&N gift card on it and didn't waste my money.

Linking to Yarn Along.

 

Living Room Style Board

This spring I will be revamping my living room. I looked at a lot of different color combos and decided on yellow, teal, and grey.

Teal, yellow, and grey living room by missmelwrites featuring teal home decor

Blue light / Drum shaped lamp shade / Laura ashley lamp, $270 / Jonathan Adler gray chevron throw blanket / Ceramic serving tray / Graham Brown home decor / Graham Brown home decor / New Growth Designs orchid flower arrangement / Better Homes and Gardens small item storage / Velvet throw pillow / Pier 1 Imports teal home decor / White pillar candle / Crate and Barrel yellow home decor / Pier 1 Imports ivory table / CB2 beanbag furniture / Weathered table, $595 / Lacquer side table / Nance Carpet and Rug 12 ft. x 15 ft. Beige Unbound Carpet Remnant / IKEA HOVÅS Sofa cover, Gobo white / H&M Felted cushion cover, $6.71

When I first made this style board a few weeks ago, I was planning on painting my living room. I just don't think that is going to be doable right now. So, I will be keeping my off white walls instead of the grey ones. I think this will still work.

I have already begun to accumulate some of these items. 

Some I already had:

1. Canvas couch (Rooms to Go)
2. Teal table (Target)
3. Grey pouf (Target)
4. Record Player (Mom)
5. 2 Candlestick holders (Pottery Barn)
6. Standing lamp (JC Penney)

And some I have picked up over the last few weeks:

1. Grey pillow (Tuesday Morning) 
2. Set of 2 mustard pillows (Homegoods)
3. Grey chevron throw (Tuesday Morning)
4. 3 Chalkboard baskets (Walmart)
5. Unfinished wood storage bench (AC Moore - will need to be painted white)
6. Unfinished tray (AC Moore - needs to be painted teal)

The items I still need:

1. Teal pillow (will be either be crocheting or sewing)
2. Side table (might be painting the one I have white)
3. Yellow and white rug (will be crocheting)
4. Cushion for bench (will be sewing)
5. 2 large yellow candles
6. Coffee table
7. Table lamp
8. Teal lampshade
9. Yellow flowers and vase

I am also going to need some wall art and to paint my TV stand, small cabinet, and wicker chair. It is going to be a very busy spring!

Pantone 2014 Color of the Year

By now you have probably seen the 2014 Pantone color of the year, which is Radiant Orchid. I am a little late to the party, yet again. I've been reading a lot of negativity about the color choice, but I like it. Then again, I am a big fan of the color purple. 

There really are some cute items in this color. I especially love the area rug from Target. I tried to keep all of the items affordable, but there is one item on here which is way out of my budget. Can you guess which one? Here is a hint: You have to carry it. :)

Fat Face purple cardigan, $74 / H M long sleeve top, $25 / Karl Lagerfeld coat / Nine West high heel pumps, $48 / Nine West leather shoes / Ghibli ostrich leather purse / Steve madden jewelry / Betsey Johnson chain jewelry / Martick purple earrings, $30 / Ted Baker two tone glasses, $110 / Topshop beauty product / Purple nail polish / Purple area rug / Pier 1 Imports purple throw pillow / Giclee Glow chain lamp

And if you are looking to craft something in this color, you are in luck! For yarnies, like myself, Red Heart Yarn sells both a dark orchid and light orchid yarn. There is also a purple tones yarn that has a mixture of purples, including orchid.

For the general crafter, Eco-fi felt carries felt in orchid. I have this color and it is really nice. I guess I'll need to make something with it this year. Martha Stewart carries an orchid glass paint and FIMO carries a violet clay, which is very similar to orchid.  

See! We can all have fun with this year's Pantone color.

2014 Wish List

There are a lot of things I want to do this year, but I am going to try to be realistic and keep it to only the most important things I want to accomplish. Last year, I put way too much pressure on myself with my Etsy shop, crafting, and writing. I got burned out by the summer. I am going to try to take it a little easier this year.

Here is my list!

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1. Finish My Book
This is definitely #1 on my list. My goal is to have Book 1 completely written by the end of March. I will then edit, re-write, and complete my research by June. I'd like to have it ready to send to publishers by my birthday, which is in early August. Book 2 will then be ready to begin in November for NaNoWriMo 2014!

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2. Start A Vacation Fund
As you can probably tell by the photo above, I am planning a trip to London next year. :) It has been 15 years since my last trip. I think I am due! I am also setting my second book in London, so I can do all of my research while I am over there. I do have one important and expensive tour on my list. I want to take a day trip on the Orient Express. The cheapest trip is $300, so I will need to add that along with my airfare, hotel/B&B, and other tours. I'm going to need mucho dinero in my vacation fund!

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3. Donate Handmade Items To Charity
I had this on my wish list for some time, but just never "found the time" to make much. This year is going to be different. I am in the process of finishing my first charity crochet project. The proceeds from the sale of the item will be donated to a local food bank. I am also thinking of donating some crocheted blankets to Soldiers Angels. They send crocheted and knitted blankets to the local VA hospitals. I think that is wonderful!

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4. Learn Clean Eating Recipes
My doctor recommended that I try a clean eating diet to combat a few health issues. I started a few weeks ago, and while it is not easy it isn't as difficult as I had thought. I really hate to cook, so I am looking for simple recipes that won't require too many hours in the kitchen. Crockpot recipes are also on my must try list.

I didn't include much crafting or DIY projects on my wish list, but I have at least 5 projects in the works. Many will be DIY projects, but I am also getting ready to start on a HUGE crochet project. Unfortunately it won't fall into my stashbusting challenge, since I had to buy the yarn over Christmas break, but that is okay.

I can feel it already guys and girls, 2014 is gonna be great!!!

Hometown USA yarn

Last Christmas I bought my first skeins of Lion Brand Hometown USA yarn. I was particularly excited to find "Pittsburgh Yellow". Being the huge Pittsburgh fan that I am, I bought 2 skeins of "Pittsburgh Yellow" along with 2 skeins of "Oakland Black", which is kind of funny since the Steelers and Raiders have a long history of hating each other. :) I really didn't know what I wanted to do with it, so I put it away with the rest of my yarn to be used later.

Fast forward to a few months ago, when I got the brilliant idea that I was going to crochet my own pouf, because I didn't want to spend $80 on one and I thought they looked so cool.

Plow & Hearth

I wanted to make a neutral color, but also one that wouldn't show the dirt when I put my feet on it. All of the patterns that I found called for zpaghetti yarn, which is not cheap! Then I remembered my Hometown USA yarn. While I do have plenty of things in black and gold, I didn't want my pouf that color too. So, I went to AC Moore and picked up 4 skeins of "Billings Chocolate", a dark brown that is really nice.

I started on my pouf and then the whole kitchen mess happened, so I put down the project and forgot about it. One weekend while I was in Target, I came across the very same pouf in the picture above. Instead of it being $80 it was marked down to $25. I thought of all of my brown yarn and the time that I had taken to start the project, but I just couldn't pass up the deal. So, I bought myself a knit pouf in dark grey.

Long story short, I now have all of this brown yarn and I have no idea what to do with it! Hopefully I'll get some great ideas this weekend. :)

Happy Fall Y'all!

I'm finally back to blogging after what seemed like an eternity. I am happy to say that my kitchen fiasco is finally in its final stages. The kitchen has been completed, with the floor having to be done twice, and all paperwork has been sent to the appropriate parties. Unfortunately, the payment seems to be falling on my shoulders, so I will be working to stock my Etsy shop with lots of items. Some Halloween goodies will be hitting the shop this week, but the bulk of everything else will be added the first of November, just in time for Christmas shopping!

The fall season looks to be a very busy one for me. I have signed up for Nerd Wars on Ravelry. It is a crochet/knit tournament, of sorts. It is really just a fun way to give yourself a little kick in the pants to get some projects done. I have several Christmas projects that have been looming for quite some time. My hope is this tourney will help give me incentive to finish them sooner than later.

I'll be playing (I'm on Ravelry as thisgirlcreates) for Team Chilton Prep, which is all things Gilmore Girls.

I love Gilmore Girls. It is also where I first caught a glimpse of Jared Padalecki, before he became the smokin' hot Sam Winchester on Supernatural. :)

If you are interested in learning more about Nerd Wars, check out the Nerd Wars group page. We are only accepting signups until Sept. 27. The tourney starts on Oct. 1.

I will also be participating in NaNoWriMo in November and all prep courses in October. One of the items on my bucket list is to finish my first novel before my 40th birthday. Unfortunately, that is less than a year away now, so I really need to get focused and get writing.

I am very fortunate to have a great local NaNo group that does plenty of fun activies in preparation of NaNoWriMo. Never heard of NaNoWriMo before? Well, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and the goal is to write an entire novel in a month! It is actually 50,000 words from November 1-30, but believe me it isn't as easy at is sounds. I will be planning my characters, setting, and plot in October and then hit the ground running on November 1.

If you'd like more info about NaNoWriMo, just visit the NaNoWriMo main website. It is being tweaked for next month, but you can still take a look around and even sign up. If you do sign up, give me a holla! My username is melissaswriting. I know, not too original. :)

Also in November, I'll be opening my Etsy shop for the Christmas season. I am currently working on some brand new items that are pretty fun and really cute. I was very fortunate to have been added to the Etsy Kids Team.

The only stipulation to being on the team is that the majority of my shop items must be kids related. So, I have put many of my adult items, like my scarves, on hold and will be focusing primarily on plush toys and play food.

I will also be donating a portion of all sales in November to the CHARGE syndrome foundation. I'll talk about that more in a few weeks.

Whew! Lots going on over here. Plus after 21 years, my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates are back in the baseball playoffs. I can already tell it is going to be a great fall!!!

Where Bloggers Create 2013

My Desert Cottage is hosting a blog party ~ "Where Bloggers Create 2013". What a fun idea! Now we get to see where all of the talented crafters work.

My craft area is pretty much anywhere in my house. I craft on my dining room table while waiting for dinner to cook, on the couch while listening to '80s music on the radio, in bed while watching TV, or in my official craft room (my second bedroom).

I used to have the entire room serve as my craft room, but over the years it has become harder and harder to keep it solely a craft room. I now have a single bed and some shelves in there, as well as my computer table, but I do still have one whole wall for my crafts!

My favorite thing in my "craft" room is definitely my yarn. It has taken me several years to stash this much yarn, but I now have a little of every color, weight, and fiber. Yay! Plus, it is all color coordinated and organized.

I also spend quite a bit of time crafting on my couch in the living room.

I am usually visited by one or two of my "helpers". This is Daphne, my 9-year old tortie. Drusilla is my 9-year old black kitty, who was taking a break from helping me craft to take a nap in the sun.

Poor Daphne! I think her intention was to help, but she just ended up napping instead. :)

I also store my hooks and my expensive fancy craft scissors on the mantle in my living room. I'm glad to have them all stored in one place. If I didn't, I'd be sure to lose them throughout the house!

Hope you enjoyed visiting my crafting spaces. Now, I am off to visit the others. . .

What a Summer. . .

This summer has started out to be a whole lot crazier than I had wanted it to be.

It all started a little over a month ago when Tropical Storm Andrea dropped my Bradford Pear tree onto my house.

The good news is it only fell on my newly painted deck :( and my storage shed.

The damage was minimal as was the price, thank goodness, because things were about to get a whole lot worse!

The day that I was home with the tree people, the floor in my kitchen started to squish. I didn't know what it was, so I called a plumber. After an inspection, he informed me that I had a major leak behind my kitchen wall, due to my refrigerator. It had completely soaked the wall, pantry, and floor. I contacted my insurance company, State Farm, and was told to call a restoration company, you know the one that handle fires, floods, wind, and smoke damage! So I did. To make a long story short, I now have a gutted kitchen.

I also have a zipper door to keep the cats out of the mess.

I feel like we've been quarantined. :)

The good news is the kitchen is now dry and the fans are out of the house. The fans made the downstairs so hot! The bad news is I am still fighting with the insurance company who is saying they won't cover my claim.

I have been spending every single waking moment of my life dealing with these issues, that I have neglected both my writing and crafting. I need to de-stress A LOT, so I am slowly getting back to my crafts.

If I do end up having to pay for this kitchen, I am going to have to come up with a ton some extra money. So, I am working on some new items for my Etsy shop, including some new plush toys, scarves, and felt food. My plan is to have everything in my shop by the end of August.

I have also neglected blogging and perusing my favorite blogs. Just yesterday I came across a summer crochet camp. It is hosted by slugs on the refrigerator. Love the name of the blog, but for right now, refrigerator is a dirty word!

The camp is for beginners and non-beginners. I thought I'd check in and see what new tips I can learn. It looks like a lot of fun and will even be offering free patterns throughout the camp.

The camp starts this Monday, July 15, so if you've ever wanted to learn to crochet be sure to sign up! We can all go to camp together. I could use a little Kumbaya right now. :)

Day 5 Organization Challenge - dvds and blu-rays

I really don't have too many DVDs and Blu-Rays. I prefer to watch television shows over movies, basically because I lose my attention span after anything over 90 minutes. But, I do have a few favorite movies that I tend to watch over and over again, though they are mostly '80s movies. :)

A few years ago I bought two bins from Michaels to hold my DVDs. I love them, but I think I am outgrowing them. I like to see all of my DVD titles. I hate having them stacked up on top of one another or sideways where I can't see the title. Unfortunately, that is what I've been doing. Buying another bin won't work, because my TV stand isn't that big. I also don't want to have to spend money on a DVD stand or another TV stand.

While searching online, I found some movie sleeves on Amazon that hold both the DVDs and the cover art. If I can get rid of the hard cases I will definitely be able to fit all of my movies in my bins, and even have some room for my Blu-Rays and Wii games. I'll have to add that to my never ending to do list. But for now, everything is in its place!

Before

After

Day 4 Organization Challenge - cat toy bins

The girls' toy bins are usually overflowing all over the floor. Why? Daphne likes to go into her bin, yes she actually knows which one is her bin, and pull out her toys. I come home from work and find new toys scattered all around the living room floor. She is crazy!

Both girls have their favorite toys. Daphne likes the big toys that she can toss up in the air or the long toys that she can kick with her back feet. Drusilla is the complete opposite. She likes the small, round toys that she can pick up in her mouth and walk around the house.

To keep the toys separated, basically for me so I don't have to go searching for their favorite toys, I made them each a toy bin.

This picture was taken right after I finished their new bins last year. If you want to see my pinspiration for the bins, click here. They were super simple to make, though the chalk seems to have rubbed off over time. I'll have to reapply their names and hearts this weekend.

Before

After

It doesn't look like too big of a difference, but I put each of the girl's favorite toys towards the front of the bins. Daphne was waiting patiently for me to finish so she could grab the blue fish. :)

Day 3 Organization Challenge - handbag

No Yarn Along or Hookin' on Hump Day project today. I've been spending all of my time organizing!

This chore I do bi-monthly, though I really should do it every week. I had actually just cleaned out my purse a few days ago, so it wasn't that bad. But, you can see how much stuff I actually accumulate over a weekend!

Before

After

I'm still using my Cath Kidston purse for a few more weeks. My Sloane Peterson purse is ready to go, but it is white and I am a little concerned about it getting really dirty. Since we are looking at rain for the next week I am going to hold off switching purses until June. Plus, I love my Cath Kidston purse, so I'm not upset. :)

I really only use big purses, I love them, but the only bad thing is I lose stuff at the bottom all of the time. I usually find myself fishing around the bottom of my purse looking for anything small, like my Altoids. I can never find them! 

I was also pleasantly surprised to find so many Ricola. I noticed when I cleaned out my medicine cabinet that I was out of Ricola. I usually always keep a bag in the house for when I get a cough, which seems like every other month lately. So when I found my Ricola, I was so excited. They are now in a ziploc bag in my medicine cabinet!

Day 2 Organization Challenge - medicine cabinet

Not sure how my medicine cabinet got this way, especially since I don't usually add anything to it. But looking around I noticed that the bottom left side is where everything gets placed, and sometimes when I opened the cabinet stuff on the left side would fall out. Poor Drusilla got knocked on the head a few times with my migraine pills.

It was just way too cramped, so I threw out the old and expired stuff and organized everything into sections: top section - lotions/hair items, middle section - cold and allergy medicine/bandaids bottom section: pain relief/prescriptions/misc. 

Before

After

Looks so much better now. And with the new sections, I don't have to search for stuff. I know exactly where everything is, including the cat medicine. :) The bottom left is also so much better. Drusilla doesn't have to worry anymore about things falling on her head!

Day 1 Organization Challenge - bedroom closet

This chore, which I do twice a year, is the one that I dread doing the most. We have had such bizarre weather this spring, where some days are really warm and others require the heat. That is why my closet was full of turtlenecks and shorts. 

Over the last few months, I had squeezed as much clothes into my little closet as I could. Thank goodness the weather got warmer and I decided to finally make the switch from winter clothes to summer clothes.

Before

After

Even though I hate cleaning my closet, when it is all done it makes me feel so much better. Plus, it looks so nice and organized! I had to keep some of my long sleeved shirts in this closet, but that is okay. They are thin long sleeved shirts, so I can use them if it gets chilly again. 

So happy this chore is done. Now I won't have to think about it again until October!!!

14 Day Organization Challenge

Spring cleaning has been on my mind for months, but I just haven't had the motivation to start. While looking around Pinterest lately, I've seen several different spring cleaning challenges. The one that sparked my interest the most was the 21 day organization challenge from holidaysparkle. 

Looking at the holidaysparkle challenge I realized some of the days didn't pertain to me. So, I tweaked my own challenge to fit the needs of my house. 

Starting tomorrow, I will become an organizing fool! Each day, for the next 14 days, I will show my progress as I work my way through my entire home. With any luck, my house will look fantastic and super tidy in just 2 weeks.

Want to join? Decide which rooms need organized in your home and blog about it. Let me know if you are organizing too. I'd love to see your progress!

A fun and scientific CAL

You know I love a great crochet along (CAL)! So as soon as I saw Bernat's new super fun and quite scientific CAL, I knew I had to join in the fun.

I am so not a fan of science or math, but for a short time while I was a kid I wanted to be a weather forecaster. For the life of me I can't remember why, but I did/do have a fascination with hurricanes. I think growing up in Florida and going through many tropical storms and hurricanes might have sparked my interest. In any case, I gave up on that dream really quickly once I figured out I needed to know a ton of math. But the really cool thing about this CAL is I will be able to live out a forecasting fantasy, even if for a brief time!

This CAL is also a KAL (knit along), so both crocheters and knitters are able to join. Yay! And the really fun part is there is a purpose to this CAL/KAL, here comes the science. :) In order to make your project, Bernat is suggesting a scarf, you must track the temperature daily. You can choose your hometown, favorite city, or a place you have always wanted to visit, decide on the colors for your temperatures, and crochet a row or two of the temperature color each day. I've chosen the city where I live now, although I really contemplated choosing a super cool city, like Venice or London.

I am changing the rules on my project, slightly. Instead of crocheting a scarf I am going to crochet an afghan. I will be using Bella Dia's Vintage Vertical Stripe Afghan pattern. It is a very simple pattern and one I can definitely work with on a daily or weekly basis.

The suggested yarn for this project is Bernat Satin. I actually have a couple of skeins from that line as well as other Bernat yarn, but instead of buying the missing colors I went through my stash and grabbed some Lion Brand and Red Heart yarn to complete my temperature ranges. I'm so happy to be able to destash with this CAL!

I am pretty sure I'll be using an H hook too. I don't want to use too big of a hook or the rows will end up being too high. This afghan will have at least 365 rows, so it is going to be BIG anyway!

Here is my afghan "thermometer":

Below 32°F - dusty purple 

Lion Brand Vanna's Choice

33 to 35°F - lilac 

Red Heart Jamie Classics

36 to 45°F - light blue 

Red Heart Super Saver

46 to 55°F - lagoon 

Bernat Satin

56 to 65°F - soft fern 

Caron Simply Soft

66 to 75°F - yellow 

Bernat Super Value

76 to 85°F - peach 

Red Heart Jamie Classics

86 to 95°F - goldfish

Lion Brand Vanna's Choice

96 to 100°F - pink 

Red Heart Super Saver

Above 101°F - rose 

Lion Brand Vanna's Choice - (I hope to never use this one!)

For the most part, I am making my thermometer in ten degree increments so it is easier for me to figure out. But, I would also like to see how many below freezing days we have in 2013, so the lower temps are in smaller increments. I'm going to be following the temperatures via the Weather Channel and my local news station.

I thought it would be fun to include some weather phenomena too. They are:

Ice/Sleet/Freezing Rain - pixie

Red Heart With Wool

Snow - white 

Bernat Berella 4

Fog - silver grey

Lion Brand Vanna's Choice

Wind - teal

Bernat Satin

Tornado - black 

Bernat Berella 4

Tropical Storm/Hurricane - cherry red 

Red Heart Super Saver

Snow is really the only thing I will be happy to include in my project, although I would like to track the windy, foggy, and icy days too. We get a lot of wind, fog, and ice in the Carolinas, and I'm curious to see exactly how much we will actually get this year. I DO NOT want to include black at all!

The CAL/KAL officially starts on February 1, but I have decided to include January as well. I'm going to try to get my January rows done before the first, if possible. I already know I'll be adding a snow, ice, wind, and fog row. Fun!

You can view the official info, here. So go ahead and join in the fun!