I have too many clothes

This is no surprise for most people that know me. I am not a minimalist. I like to buy stuff, I like to keep stuff, I like to collect stuff. Let's not even go into all the things I keep for future art and craft projects...I currently take up space in my studio and my bedroom at my parents house. The problem with having a lot of clothes in my studio is that part of my closet is covered by a wall. I don't know why someone thought that was a good idea, though I suppose it's okay for storage, but I can't see anything that goes past the three feet of sliding doors (also not a great idea, because you can only see about a foot and a half of your closet at one time. This was solved by removing the closet doors, surprisingly a thing I've done more than once...). All the clothes that go behind the wall I hardly wear because I can't see them. To address this issue I have with clothes I'm doing a couple of things:

1. Purging 

Yesterday, I took out half of my closet. I got rid of things I haven't worn in years (or at all). I've always had a hard time getting rid of a lot of clothes because I keep thinking I might need a top like that one day, or I'll wear that skirt when I have a shirt to go with it. But this time I have incentive. I joined Smashion, a site where you can share looks, and buy and sell clothes from other people. I set up a store front and I plan to list all the sellable clothes that I don't want anymore. Talk about incentive. Anything I don't sell will just go to charity. Everybody wins =)

2. 30 for 30

Tomorrow is the first day of the 30 for 30 challenge. The idea is that you take 30 things you want to wear and "remix" them over 30 days. These things include tops, bottoms, light outerwear, and shoes (and don't include heavy coats and accessories). An added challenge is that you can't buy anything for those 30 days, you're just supposed to shop in your closet. I'm excited for the challenge but I'm also a bit worried that I'll just end up wearing the same thing every day. I work in a office, cubicle-style, and sit at my desk all day. It's typical business attire, so I usually wear slacks and a nice top, maybe a cardigan. The challenge for me over the next 30 days is to try and not wear the same outfits each week. Hopefully the accessories will help.

Now I haven't picked out all 30 items yet, but if I do get to 30, one thing I won't include is any knitwear I finish. Which will basically be just my Malabrigo Abalone that I've been working on. It's almost done so I should be able to wear that soon.

I'd love to take pictures of my outfits every day to document them, but given as I wake up (sometimes) before the sun rises and get back home after the sun sets, and I am only one person and am not about to take bad photos of myself in front of a poorly lit mirror, it's not very practical. Having someone take pictures for me at work isn't really an option either. Maybe if I have a really good outfit, I'll share, or on the weekends when there's light.

So that's what I plan on doing over the next month. Which means I'll probably go on a shopping spree in March...especially since Miriam is coming to visit.

I wish I could sew as well as this kitty...

From lolcats

Oh, no! Ravelry, where have you gone?

This is what keeps happening when I try and open Ravelry. I'm dying here. I want to look at new patterns but I can't! I could open it on my phone but it's not the same, and it started slowing down and not loading all the pictures as well. *le sigh* Hopefully it won't always be like this on this computer/internet/server/thing.

FO: Cabled Mitts

Project: One Cable Mitts by Valerie Teppo

Yarn: The Fibre Company Terra

Needles: US8

Aren't they lovely? I heart cables.

I made these for me and I love the pattern and the yarn and the way they turned out. I like how they’re a bit chunky but still fit under a coat and the fit is nice and snug, so no moving around my wrists. I used almost a full skein - I was terrified that I might run out of yarn, but turns out I have a few grams leftover. I can't wait to wear these to keep my hands warm (and still have full use of my fingers!).

p.s. I love how I can make pictures bigger now that I changed the column width! And don't worry, I'll stop talking about the column width...

It's a New Year!

How exciting, 2011. Now it's going to take a whole year for me to get used to writing "11" at the end of my dates. I'm doing okay so far.

I think I may actually have a new year's resolution this year. I know, right? I never have resolutions, or if I do, they are loosely kept. Carin from Round the Twist, a video podcast I follow, called them "guidelines." I love that, because really, "resolutions" just sounds like too much.

So my guideline for this year is inspired by an old episode of Brass Needles (another podcast I follow) where one of Miss Kalendar's guests said her new year's resolution was to make at least one thing from or inspired by each of her many craft books. I happen to have many craft books (take a look at all the fiber-related ones here on Ravelry) that range from knitting and crochet books, to sewing, to stenciling, etc. And I don't think I've made a singe thing out of them. Well, I think I've knit a couple things, but really, some books have only been flipped through. This needs to change. It's great to have these books as eye candy and inspiration, but I really need to make something more of them. Thus, my resolution guideline is to make at least one thing from/inspired by each of my many craft books. We'll see how this goes...

p.s. Did you notice that I made the column width on my blog wider? Now I can make my pictures bigger. Yay!