ever evolving

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jun 14, 2019 at 2:36pm PDT

We're very close now to July, which means that I am getting tremendously excited about switching both of my planners. I'll be moving from the mini Happy Planner as my everyday carry to this Plum Paper planner A5 daily. I customized it so that each daily page has all of the sections I use so that I will no longer have to frankenplan and switch back and forth between different layouts. I'll also be moving into my Erin Condren life planner neutral vertical that I've shown before.

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jun 23, 2019 at 9:45am PDT

I've become more interested lately in decorative planning with kits and it occurred to me that it would be more cost-effective to print and cut kits myself than to order them through the mail. I bought a Silhouette Cameo 3 from Amazon on sale at a great price. I've since discovered more of the benefits to printing your own kits--1) instant gratification. sometimes it can take over a month to receive your stickers in the mail and 2) being able to edit the kits so that i only print and cut the stickers i actually use. it's generally less wasteful and i don't end up with lots of leftover stickers i'm never going to utilize. i had a lot of fun last weekend playing around with the editing software and cutting my first stickers.

I bought 2 samplers of sticker paper, the regular matte and removable matte from online labels. I prefer the removable kind and when my samplers run out I will order a full pack of the removable paper. So far I have purchased from the following printable shops: Print Petticoat Bandit, Paper Crown Planner, and Ramona and Friends. I've also played around with printing my own script stickers, which I think will come in very handy. I download most of my fonts from dafont.com

I do eventually want to buy a foiling machine but I think that will be a few months down the road once I'm more comfortable with the Silhouette. I'm really enjoying this new outlet for creativity and I can't wait until I can carve out some time to print and cut more stickers.

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Vintage Circus

It took longer than anticipated, but this was a really enjoyable spin. The fiber is a Nest Fiber club braid from 2016. It's 100% targhee. I spun it as a fractal 2ply longdraw from the fold. I love how poofy and airy it is. I made an effort not to overply it and the skein is nice and soft. I got about 390yds/120g of a light sport weight.

If you're interested, this skein is available in the shop.

keeping up with spinning

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jun 7, 2019 at 5:10pm PDT

I haven't been great this year at spinning 15 minutes a day. I started off strong the first couple of months and then there was a big dropoff. However, I try to remind myself that I'm doing much better in 2019 than I did the previous year, when I only spun about 8 oz for the entire year. I finally finished this Nest targhee that was a club braid from 2016. I washed it but I haven't reskeined yet so I don't know how much yardage I have. This one will likely go in the shop because although I love the colors I'm accumulating too much handspun for the rate that I'm knitting it up.

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jun 9, 2019 at 11:56am PDT

My next project I'm pretty sure I will keep. I've been hoarding this Hello Yarn corriedale in Poisoned Apples from 2017. I love the colors so much and so far it's been a dream to spin. I'm spinning both braids as a 2ply fractal. I think I want to knit a shawl but I'll figure it out when I've finished the yarn. I've actually been spinning more the past week or so--I think these lovely braids and the fact that I want to knit with them are a big motivating factor.

May Wrap-up and Goals

May seemed to go by really fast. I'm having a hard time remembering what I was able to finish.

Stash Check

• Yarn Used: 1324 yds / 326 g
  Yarn Added: -459 yds / -100 g
  Difference: +1783 yds / 426 g
• Fiber Used: 0 oz
  Fiber Added: 0 oz
  Difference: 0 oz
• Fabric Used: 1 yd
  Fabric Added: 0 yds
  Difference: +1 yd

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on May 7, 2019 at 2:21pm PDT

FOs

• Leather Earrings
• May socks
• Baroque Cardi
• Leopard Ogden Cami
• Linen Skirt Refashion

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on May 24, 2019 at 6:21am PDT

WIPs

• Superhero X-stitch
• Nest targhee
• Giant Granny Blanket
• Sock Yarn Blanket
• Disappearing 4-patch quilt
• June socks

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on May 22, 2019 at 9:29am PDT

Goals

2019 goals

1. Keep yarn/fiber/fabric additions to a minimum: I can't believe I've almost made it a 1/2 year without buying any new stash.
2. Knit from previously purchased pattern: I finished 2 things: my May socks were from the book Sock Architecture, and the Baroque cardigan was from Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.
3. Make what I feel like: I must have done a good job with this because looking back my projects were all over the place this month.
4. Spin 15 minutes a day: Sadly, no. but I am working on it fairly consistently (about 3-4 times per week).
5. Knit more handspun: Nope.
6. Finish Superhero Sampler: I'm so happy with my progress. I only have 5 motifs left.
7. Taking care of my health: Well I thought I was doing well, but I ended up hurting my back in late May and I'm still recovering from that. I think that sewing/quilting for long periods is really hard on my back so I'm setting a timer and making myself quit after 20 minutes.
8. Shop less: I bought a few items to refresh my spring/summer wardrobe, but I have also sewn or refashioned a few pieces so I bought less than I could have.
9. Brush lettering: Still working on it but I'm pretty discouraged. I don't ever seem to get any better at it no matter how much I practice.
10. Doodling: I ran out of prompts to follow so I haven't quite known what to work on but I am still dabbling a little bit each work day.

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Fun with paper pads

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on May 20, 2019 at 8:56am PDT

I watch a lot of planning videos on youtube. One of my favorite channels is STICKWITHMEshop. She does a ton of more creative Plan with Me videos using a variety of planning tools. To be honest it does get a little boring sometimes to watch people plan with kits. The formats are very similar and it all kind of ends up looking the same. This particular planner turned me onto the idea of using scrapbook paper pads and a Happy Planner box punch to make my own full boxes for decorating.

I've mentioned it before, but I'm not overly fond of inspirational quotes and they can be unavoidable with Happy Planner stickers and kits. Using paper pads enables me to just have pretty printed boxes without the stupid quotes. I've mostly purchased from my local Joanns or Michaels and you can find some really good bargains. I've purchased 12x12 paper pads on clearance for $1. and I don't just use them in my weekly planning but I've also cut them to size and pasted them over my monthly dividers or dashboards when I don't like the existing tabs.

For this spread I used a smaller paper pad from Michaels with a Paris theme. I love the colors and my favorite part was probably making my own double box. The only negatives I've found with this method are 1) the paper is often cardstock or heavier paper, which makes the spreads thicker and 2) it can be time consuming to cut the paper to size, though the box punch is a big time-saver.

I've purchased several paper pads and I look forward to using them more in my spreads. Sometimes it can be hard to remember I have them if I'm using primarily stickers and not making a scrapbook-focused spread like this one, but hopefully they will pop up in more of my planning in the future.

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My fourth Ogden Cami

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on May 19, 2019 at 2:17pm PDT

I don't know why but when warmer temps roll around I get the urge to sew clothing again. I decided to start small with a pattern I've used before in order to give me the least amount of stress possible. I chose the True Bias Ogden Cami and some leopard poly crepe I bought from Blackbird Fabrics during their Black Friday sale last year.

I finally managed to get the fit right on my fourth try. I cut a size 0 for the front and a size 2 for the back in order to accommodate my broad back. My earliest versions were tight under the arms and my third version in size 2 was too loose. I was worried that the fabric would be tricky to sew but it was actually pretty stable and easy to work with. I used a 70/10 Schmetz needle and gutermann poly thread.

Technique-wise the only thing different I did was to use a baby hem because I have never once gotten my rolled hem foot to work properly and trying to do a hand-rolled hem is a huge pain in the ass. It worked pretty well though the hem is slightly wavy in parts. fortunately the print is very forgiving so I don't think you can tell. Because this was my first garment in awhile I cut myself some slack and wasn't aiming for perfection.

I am glad to have a fun new tank for summer and animal print is everywhere right now so it's great to have a wardrobe refresh. I am still doing pretty well with containing the size of my wardrobe but I do like to add a small number of pieces for the season. So far I have sewed this cami and made 2 pairs of leather earrings. I've also purchased one pair of rose gold studs, a pair of white skinny jeans, a white jean skirt, and a striped tee. I have a crochet lace cardigan in progress and would like to sew one more shirt and a dress. For me, I think that containing the number of pieces I want to make per season to just a few is a much better recipe for success than trying to sew a whole new wardrobe all at once.

Slightly less excited than before

I've made some big planner purchases recently that I wanted to share.

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on May 11, 2019 at 3:07pm PDT

First, I ordered a Foxy Fix Perfect Fit Cover for my Mini Happy Planner. The shop was having a sale on this particular leather so I decided to go for it, as I love cognac and feel like it's an all-season kind of color. Unfortunately I didn't read the description very closely and the cover is designed for classic rather than mini-sized discs. When I first put the cover on my mini it was massive. Eventually I did switch out the discs and the fit is better now but it's also a little bulkier than I would like. The planner with cover no longer fits in my smallest purses. At the moment I'm still enjoying it though I may end up removing the cover at some point. Also the leather is very stiff and seems like it could really use a good once over with leather conditioner. I may end up doing that but I wish it would have come ready to use at the price I paid for it (+$100).

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A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on May 10, 2019 at 1:40pm PDT

My other major purchase was I bought an Erin Condren Life Planner in the vertical neutral layout. I kept wishing that the classic happy planner vertical had space in between the columns like the ECLP, so eventually I asked myself why I don't just buy a planner that already has the layout that I like. I got the 18 month that goes from July 2019 to December 2020 so I'll be starting my new planner this summer. At first I was very excited about it but since then I've become a bit leery of EC customer service. My planner did not come with a ruler. TBH I don't really care that much but this was an $80 purchase so I felt like I should receive everything I paid for. I contacted customer service and they informed me that they cannot send a replacement but they would give me partial store credit. I don't really want store credit as I don't see myself buying from EC again until I need another planner so I asked for a partial refund instead. And I was just notified this morning that they don't do partial refunds. So yeah, that kind of blows. Again, I don't think I would care that much about the missing ruler but I do think that such an expensive planner should come with better service.