Yarn Love Challenge: Intros and Such

The Yarn Love Challenge on Instagram started this month, with intros. I joined a few days late and threw a selfie up on instagram as Day 1 but didn’t really introduce myself. Eh, I don’t know if I’ll actually do that now either.

I had this super long post I wrote late one night and it read like something you ramble late at night. So this is the abbreviated version:

(yarn love challenge day1: intro)

I started blogging 8 years ago to have something to do in the evenings as my kids got older. It was a natural progression from doing a Flickr 365 project and being on Ravelry too much. Isn’t that kind of how we all did it? I used to post on different parts of my life. I looked like a very “can do” kind of gal, but after ending my 365 projects and finding my family sick to death of photos, I focused mostly on knitting.

I also went through some personal health issues (nothing detrimental) and stressful times with older family members that left me with zero energy for all the many projects. Side note: I’m feeling so much better. So, it became a knitting blog, I guess.

(yarn love challenge day 15: family)

I turned 43 this year. I find that hard to remember, since it seems like I was an angsty 19 yesterday.
I’m also the mother of a teenager and an adult. I go along with the maturity charade, but they’re perpetually 4 and 1 in my mind. And in my dreams. I cannot tell you how many of my dreams focus on my family at that period of time. I guess it’s because we were all here by then. Those dreams often have to do with me trying to evacuate everyone from a natural disaster, tornados being the storm of choice, while kittens escape into the yard. My dreams, I swear. If I’m not trying to rescue kittens, I’m doing something as mundane as trying to find a matching shoe or remember a table’s order at The Olive Garden, with the same sense of urgency.

I was born in Texas and am still here. I don’t mind that, because I need to be where I am right now, but I’d like to be in some wooded mountains one day. We live in a very small, older home we’re forever renovating, where we keep more pets than we should.

(yarn love challenge day 8: where I craft)

(yarn love challenge day 17: fiber friends)

(yarn love challenge day 20: handmade home)

I am a Christian, which is a huge part of my life, but it doesn’t often end up on this blog. I guess it feels too important a thing to just throw out here in a rambly post. Also I feel a responsibility to “represent.” I mean, I can try, but ultimately, I’m human and my flaws are going to shine through.

I have intense feelings about Jesus. Maybe I hesitate to post more because I can’t bear the thought of someone reading this and hearing, “Jesus!” shouted in my southern voice like a joke. Also, the last few years have been intensely difficult for me and thinking about Him, and how He has loved me through it, gets me very emotional. And I don’t often want to feel all the feels in the evening, before bed, when I write here. In short, He is my closest friend. I believe all of that stuff in the Bible in a literal way. I believe in miracles, in Him knowing my thoughts, in spiritual rebirth, and Heaven.

Some of my favorite things to do are have really good conversations, where everyone has space to contribute and my mind gets blown. I also love listening to my records while I clean or cook, running with the sun on my back, trails, and making things with my hands. Surprise.

I tend to collect, which is tricky in a little house- things like rocks, shells, kitchenware I don’t need, magazines, knitting books (even though I swore I’d go digital with all my patterns), and old Avon perfume bottles.