3KCBWDAY7: im-Balance.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's

a Great Balancing Act.

-Dr. Seuss

balance.
something i continuously struggle with day in and day out.
i'm an all or nothing kind of girl.
i have a strong tendency to jump 100% into new things and neglect all else in the meantime.

oh wait. we are supposed to be talking about crafting right?

well still.

right now i'd say i'm really out of balance and i need to work hard to bring it all back together again. i'm constantly trying to figure it all out... how to be a good mom, attentive and compassionate wife, keep the house clean, how to cook exciting and balanced meals every day of the week, open my first etsy shop, expand my knitting, crochet, photography, blogging and "other" crafting skills & projects... whew it's enough to make a girl feel a wee bit overwhelmed.

since i can't even pretend that i have my crafting life (or otherwise) in balance at the moment let's take a look at how things are out of balance and what i need to work on...

yarncrafting > scrapbooking

i am a bad mom. ok that's not true. i'm a bad scrapbooker. i started off in the "public" crafting world as a scrapbooker and during my first few years of marriage accumulated a lot of stash just waiting for our little ones to start arriving. since having little miss (almost two years ago, omg!) how many pages in her 3 scrapbooks have i done? 5. 5 pages. granted a couple are double pages which are a definite change from what was my norm during my most active scrapping days but still. pathetic. yes i have one of those fill in baby books that i've kept up to date so it's not like i failed to write down her firsts and journal a bit... and i have about 6000 photos of her from her first two years that have been edited and are waiting patiently to be printed out. so i haven't missed anything. but every day i see the huge stash waiting there silently mocking me and it drives me insane.

this is an imbalance in my crafting life that i must fix. confession time. a big reason i haven't spent a lot of time trying to get back into the scrapbooking mood is that i'm afraid. i'm afraid that i no longer have it. that all the hopes and dreams of amazing pages of my sweet little girl just won't happen. that i'll try to put something together and my mojo. will. be. gone. gone forever. *shiver*

goal: i'm making it a priority to spend one day each week (starting now!) organizing my scrapbook supply stash and destashing. once that project is done that one day per week is going to be a scrapping day. if i can start with a simple goal of finishing one or two pages per week i think i'll gain the confidence i desperately need back.

crochet > knitting

my wrists are feeling this imbalance. big time.

i think right now i'm crocheting more than knitting because i'm so focused on designing critters and patterns for my etsy shop opening. also because i learned to crochet most recently and it's just been so much fun. but it's left my knitting skills in limbo and that's not cool. there are a lot of things i'd still like to improve on and so it's time to get those needles going again!

goal: have a knitting project (preferably with a new technique) going at all times and work a little bit each day to take a break from the hook. it will help with my wrist pain and keep me expanding my knitting bag of tricks!

side-note: Stacey Trock of FreshStitches did a great post on wrist exercises for the yarncrafter and seriously it was exactly what i needed today. not only am i crocheting non-stop lately but ever since getting pregnant with little miss i've been sleeping on my left side and it's causing me a lot of pain all up and down my left arm. oh, and have i mentioned i'm left handed? ugh. are there arm transplants?

yarn > thread

another big problem in my crafting life at the moment. i started cross-stitching as a little girl and before any other type of craft. i love embroidery and sewing but it's kind of fallen by the wayside as i learned to knit and crochet. i'm hoping to remedy that very soon.

goal: start a new embroidery piece or sewing project each month. first and foremost i need to finish a piece i started this past christmas that is going to become part of my husband's christmas stocking... it's Mr. Robin from the Ryan Berkley patterns by Sublime Stitching. he's pretty awesome and about 80% finished.

so hopefully if i focus on those goals and on using my crafting time a little more wisely i'll feel better, not get so overwhelmed with my project queue, and get more done!

i have really enjoyed Knitting and Crochet Blog Week and while things got a little crazy with my "real life" obligations i am planning on going back in the coming weeks to address the topics i missed because they are all really great! thanks so much to everyone who has stopped by my little piece of the internets... i hope you enjoy my space and will visit again soon! i've really enjoyed finding so many new bloggers to follow and reading through the week's posts.

don't forget to use the week's special tags to find all of the participants and their posts...

now i'm off to enjoy the rest of my sunday evening with my loves. ♥  

love.