Looking Forward to an Organized Life - Time-Wise Anyway

Today in the New York Times, I am mentioned and quoted in an article about spinning your pet's hair after they have crossed over the rainbow bridge.  https://www.instagram.com/p/B7hJZsOpq-0/
I am honored to have been included.  It is a way for me to help people cope with the loss of a beloved pet and create something they can have for a long time.


On another note, it is getting really cold!  I love winter, especially if it snows. It is time for sweaters, hot cocoa, and soups.  However, in Crossville, we don't get much snow.  When it does, it is certainly celebrated!  By me, anyway!  If there is a threat of snow, all of the bread and milk is quickly snatched up at the grocery.  I often wonder why that is.  I remember growing up, going to the grocery and all of the bread and milk being gone when it snowed.  Maybe people yearn to make bread pudding!  lol  Anyway, it still holds true today.  Is this a Southern thing?

I am working on making a schedule for spinning pet hair.  It is hard to treat it like a job, when I love to do it.  However, one can become burnt out.  Sometimes I really crave dyeing some wool, spinning it, and then knit something.  But, when I have 7 pounds of hair to spin with more hair coming, I feel like I can't spin anything else.  If I looked at it like a job, then I would only work certain hours and then I would be off for the day.  Then I can spin, knit, dye with no guilt!  It is tough to work from home.  I have a fabulous studio out back, but it is not insulated, so it takes a lot to heat it in the winter.  I generally move all of my spinning to the living room.  So, family life goes on all around me.  I see laundry to fold, dishes to wash, floors to sweep, etc. and I feel like I should be cleaning and being a good keeper of my home.  Today, it hit me!  Set a work schedule, then I can have time to clean, play and do the fun, fibery things I love to do.  Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE what I do.  I thank God that I can make money doing something I love doing.  I am grateful that I can work in the comfort of my home.  I just need to be more organized.  So, my son came up with an excellent schedule for me.  I had one set up and he reminded me of my nap time.  lol  I nap for about 15-20 minutes at 2.  Not everyday, but nearly.  I have my little power nap so I can carry on through the evening hours.  Now my naptime is built in.  Keeping it real!  I will let you know how this works.  Do any of you have these same issues?

Sunday is a great day for me to blog, so I will probably start doing this on a regular basis.  I will be a little more creative in my writing.  I love to write and used to do it all the time.  Now, I just teach writing to high schoolers.

I look forward to my new organized life!  Any suggestions or advice is welcome!  What has worked for you?

Take care and have a blessed week!

Kim

I'm Back!!

I am back!  I have been thinking about this blog for awhile, yet I never found time to post! I am on Instagram mostly these days, and the blog has taken a back seat to being a wife, mother, and spinner of lots of dog hair! As a matter of fact, I was interviewed for a New York Times piece on spinning deceased pet's hair into yarn.  The interviewer linked my name to this blog!  So, since it has been 3 years since I have posted, I decided I had better get to it, so here I am!

In the last 3 years, I have......hmmm.  I know I have done something, because I sure am busy.  Am I busy doing nothing?  Or something(s_) that are of no interest to anyone but me and maybe not even me? I have been homeschooling which keeps one busy.  I have been to the beach this past summer, which affected me deeply.  I miss the beach.  Would I want to live there?  Probably not, but it sure is nice to visit!  We went to Isle of Palms, off the coast of Charleston and had a blast.  I have also  been knitting socks and a shawl, some cowls, mittens and gifted most of them.  And, I have been spinning lots of dog hair and some cat hair.  This part of my business has really exploded in the last year.  I do enjoy it very much, but I miss being creative in my dyeing and spinning yarns.  I miss the bright colors I would create and how the yarn would spin up totally different than I thought it would.  It was always a surprise!  But spinning the pet hair does bring me a sense of satisfaction, especially when I am spinning a pet's fur who has traveled over the rainbow bridge.  I like being able to create something for the owner left behind.  Right now, I am spinning Pyrenees fur and am knitting on one more hat to go with the Husky hats below.
  

hats from Husky fur

Husky Yarn

I also have a Yuletide sock in progress, which is a pattern by Kay Jones of Bakery Bears fame!  I am using the minis my daughter received in an Advent Swap.  It is so fun to see the sock take shape and the beautiful material the minis are making.

I promise to be a better blogger.  For more frequent updates, please see my Instagram account linked above.

Take care,

Kim

Simply Homespun Episode 16 - I Finished My Sock!!!

Simply Homespun - Making Yogurt Part 2

Simply Homespun Making Yogurt Part 1 of 2

Simply Homespun Episode 13 My Studio

What's New?!

Good Morning!  I am sitting in the quiet of my living room looking out on a rainy morning with a cup of Earl Gray tea.  I love this time of quiet.  It is so unusual that both of my children would be asleep at 9:00am!  Usually we have already completed a class for school by now, but I couldn't bring myself to wake them up!  Actually, my daughter has been up, but cuddled up in my bed with the Kindle and is now drifting in and out of sleep.  My daughter, Grace, gets up, fixes her own breakfast, reads her Bible and prays, usually before my eyes open!  She is 8 years old and very indepedent!  She cleaned the kitchen last night for me.  I love that!  This morning, I was up before anyone, so I made pancakes with fresh peach syrup.  I have all of these peaches, so I grabbed a few, peeled them, put them in a pot, added a little bit of water, some honey, cinnamon and 2 glucomannan capsules to thicken it. Then I cooked it until bubbly.  Yummy!!  The Glucomannan is used to thicken sauces, puddings, etc.  This is a Trim Healthy Mama ingredient!

What is new in my shop?  LOTS!  I have added headbands made from my wire yarn, mostly.  These are so cute!  I love them.  My daughter, Grace, was my model and she kept saying, "Don't list this one.  I want it."  to about all of them!  It is a great use of the wire yarn.  I have a customer who said she was going to use the wire yarn she purchased for hat toppers instead of pom poms.  I had a gentleman buy some from me last year at a craft show I did.  I wondered what he was going to do with it!  Something creative, I bet.  Anyway, the headbands were listed with the hope of bringing a little fun into your hair!  

I also added a monthly Fiber Box Club.  You will get a box of mixed types of fiber each month for however long your subscription is - 1, 3, 6 or 12 months.  There is a minimum of 4 oz. in each box.  It will be a mix of wool and exotics and maybe a little bit of sparkle!  Gift wrapping is available!  I am trying to come up with some fresh ideas.  My shop is doing well, but just want to take it to the next level.  Any ideas are being accepted!  What would you like to see?

School is going great!  I think I have hit upon a winner for curriculum!  Finally!  Ben is enjoying school and so is Grace.  I am using Tapestry of Grace with Ben and Rod and Staff with Grace.  Ben is using Singapore Math and Apologia science.  It is great to see happy faces every day!  (well nearly every day! lol).  In the summer, we are finishing up right after lunch, then head to the lake for swimming and fun!  It is a great incentive to focus and get the lessons done.  

Take care and God bless you!

Kim